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I 







J 




















AUGUSTINIAN 

SERMONS 


BY 

REV. JOHN A. WHELAN, O.S.A. 

Professor of Homiletics and History, 

Villano'va Scholasticate, Villanova, Pa. 


FIRST SERIES 


NEW YORK 

BLASE BENZIGER & CO., Inc. 

1922 


5^ 


^ V ^ 


jpccmieau Supertorum 

Very Rev. N. J. Vasey, O.S.A., S.T.B. 


Pro vinci a 


May 15» I 9 22 




mibil ©batat 

Rev. J. M. Corrigan, D.D. 


Censor Librorum 


Imprimatur 

•*D. CARD. DOUGHERTY 

A rchiepiscopus Philadelphiensi 


May 15, 1922 


1 


COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY BLASE BENZIGER & CO., INC. 

©Cl A6S3741 




TO • JESUS • CHRIST 

THE ETERNAL • SON • OF • GOD • AND 
THE • SON • OF • HIS • VIRGIN • MOTHER 
MARY * THAT • SOULS * MAY • BE • DRAWN 
NEARER * TO * HIS • SACRED • HEART 
I • DEDICATE • THIS * BOOK 





















FOREWORD 


The author’s original intention, as suggested by his 
Father Provincial, Very Rev. Nicholas J. Vasey, 
O. S. A., was to prepare sermons for our mission¬ 
aries. But because of the warm recommendations 
the sermons received from those who examined them, 
including the diocesan censor of books, it was finally 
determined to issue the work for the priesthood in 
general. 

Most of the sermons are long, and it would be 
almost impossible for any preacher to deliver them as 
they are written in the space of time ordinarily alloted 
to the sermon. However, the preacher is enabled to 
pick out the salient points by means of the synopsis 
given at the head of each sermon. As it is custom¬ 
ary to give instructions on the Decalogue at the 
Masses during a mission, these were written so that 
they could be delivered in the space of about twenty 
minutes. They could be used also for short evening 
sermons, for instance, during Lent, or amplified ac¬ 
cording to needs of preacher and people. 

The author has attempted to put old things in a 
new way and above all to strengthen his reasoning 
by the Scriptures and the Fathers. The sermons are 
filled with quotations from the Holy Scriptures, the 
Fathers, and other ascetical writers, all bearing upon 
the different subjects dealt with. And also he has 
not hesitated to bring in profane authors to elucidate 
his meaning. The sermons are supported by these 
weighty authorities and, in fact, are built up on them. 

9 


IO 


FOREWORD 


Should these sermons meet with the approval of 
his fellow-priests, the author hopes to bring out other 
volumes if God will give him the time and talent. 


The Author. 







CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Foreword.9 

Opening of a Mission.13 

On the Importance of Salvation ... 22 

On Sin.43 

On Sorrow for Sin.60 

On Scandal.81 

On Hell. 103 

On Prayer.126 

On Confession.144 

On the Holy Eucharist.164 

On Faith.176 

On Hope.188 

On Charity.201 

On Delay of Repentance.215 

On Perseverance.239 

On the Ten Commandments of God . . . 250 

The First Commandment.254 

The Second Commandment.261 

The Third Commandment.269 

The Fourth Commandment , . „ . 277 

u 

f 

















12 


CONTENTS 


PAG® 

The Fifth Commandment.287 

The Sixth and Ninth Commandments . 294 
The Seventh and Tenth Commandments 302 
The Eighth Commandment.309 









AUGUSTINIAN SERMONS 


OPENING OF A MISSION 

SYNOPSIS 

What is a mission?—Its opportuneness.—A bad preparation 
for the mission.—Presumption.—Falling- back after the mission. 
—Good preparation for the mission.—Prayer.—Weak instruments 
used by God.—To make the good do better.—Threat to the luke¬ 
warm.—What is tepidity?—Blindness of the soul’s eye.—Imita¬ 
tion of Christ.—A mission is for all classes.—Religion must be 
practised.—A mission may be a turning-point.—Beware of scandal. 
—God always ready to forgive sinners.—Attendance at the 
exercises. 

My dear Bretpiren : To-day we begin a holy mis¬ 
sion in this parish, and although you have been notified 
of this fact by your parish priest, yet it is fit and be¬ 
coming that we who are to conduct this mission should 
speak to you ourselves some words of explanation and 
exhortation at the Masses this morning. 

What is a mission? The answer to this question 
may appear to you to be very easy. No doubt, you all 
have in your mind the very obvious reply—namely, 
that a mission consists in attending all the exercises, 
or as many as possible, and then going to confession 
and holy Communion. But these are only the means 
to a certain definite end, and as no reasonable person 
thinks more of, or values more highly, the means than 
the end, so should you look more to what is the real 
object of this mission than to the mere attendance at 
the exercises, or even the sacramental confession and 
holy Communion during it. 

13 




i4 


OPENING OF A MISSION 


The object of the mission is to effect a permanent 
change in the life of all who participate in it. 

When a man sets out to perform a given work, the 
first thought in his mind is the purpose for which the 
work is done, and the reward for it. He labors, either 
mentally or physically, for the end he first had in view 
when undertaking the work. This is true, whether of 
the highest or of the lowest order, whether the reward 
or wages be great or little. Man is always working 
for an end and purpose, because he is a reasonable 
being. 

Now, a mission is an unusual opportunity given to 
the people of a parish of hearing the word of God, and 
of receiving the Sacraments, especially those of Pen¬ 
ance and the Holy Eucharist. 

As the universal Church is continuously calling upon 
her children to cease from evil and learn to do well, 
yet there are certain periods when she emphasizes this 
duty more than at others. So in this parish, as in the 
universal Church, the truths of the Gospel have been 
preached to you, but now this is a time of special grace 
and of special blessing, a season of greater pardon and 
easier approach to God. 

To-day we can use the words of St. Paul, the great¬ 
est missioner that ever preached the gospel of Christ: 
"We helping do exhort you that you receive not the 
grace of God in vain. Eor He saith: In an accepted 
time have I heard thee; and in the day of salvation 
h. ave I helped thee. Behold, now is the acceptable 
time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 1 

I he preparation for a mission, with some persons, 
consists in a protracted delay to receive the Sacraments 

? t ,i„ en ? nCe a ," d the Ho,y Eu charist, or a neglect to 
fulfill the ordinary duties of a Catholic. These are 

always waiting for a mission, and try to excuse their 
gross carelessness by saying that when this opportunity 

1 II. Cor. vi. i, 2. 






OPENING OF A MISSION 


15 


presents itself they will repair their past remissness, 
confess their sins, receive holy Communion and begin 
a new life. But this is no way to prepare for such a 
time of repentance and grace; this is only trifling with 
the grace of God, and laying oneself open to the sin 
of presumption. God’s grace is given only to those 
who ask for it, and it is surely presumption to expect 
that He will help us just when we are graciously pleased 
to accept that help. 

Hence it is that a great many of those who act thus 
may indeed make the mission so far as external evi¬ 
dences show, but “these have no roots; for they be¬ 
lieve for awhile, and in time of temptation they fall 
away.’’ 2 Such a state of mind is a perversion of 
the very end for which a mission is given, and it is 
one of the most subtle devices that the devil uses in 
order that its fruits may be useless. 

Those who lay such a balm to their souls are nearly 
always ready to excuse themselves by irresolute prom¬ 
ises, which are never really fulfilled, but serve to quiet 
the gnawings of remorse and the voice of their con¬ 
science. 

On the other hand, there is a sincjere and real 
preparation for a mission, and this consists in prayer, 
humility, sorrow for sin, and the other right motives 
in corresponding with the superabundant grace which 
God wishes to pour out at this blessed season, and 
which He is only too ready and willing to grant to 
all who have the proper dispositions. 

From the depths of your soul you should exclaim 
with the great prophet Samuel: “Speak, Lord, for 
Thy servant heareth.” 3 The same Lord who called 
Samuel now calls upon you, and the answer should 
be the same. You must give yourselves unreservedly 
into the fatherly hands of God, crying in your heart 
with St. Paul, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to 

2 Luke viii. 13. 8 I. Kings iii. 9. 


16 OPENING OF A MISSION 

do?” 4 This implies a firm resolution to do what God 
tells you; it means the unreserved surrender of your¬ 
selves to the will of God, “for this is the will of 
God, your sanctification .” 5 He wishes, nay, He 
ardently desires, that you come to Him, closer and 
closer, by means of this mission. 

The first motion you must make is that of prayer, 
fervent, sincere, and heartfelt prayer, that you may 
pay attention to the voice of God speaking in your 
soul. 

It is true that nearly always God uses the weakest 
instruments to accomplish His greatest works, and 
we—the missioners—have no false modesty in stat¬ 
ing that such is truly the case with us. We ourselves 
are weak and liable to sin, but we trust that, with the 
help of God, we shall be able to accomplish great 
things in this parish through this mission, for His 
honor and glory. 

This is a time when you must seriously examine 
how you stand before God. This examination must 
be reasonable and prudent. For we are not here to 
excite scruples of conscience; we are not here in order 
that some may imagine there is a sin, even a mortal 
sin, in everything they do, or think they do, against 
the law of God. But we are giving this mission to 
make the good do better, in the words of our divine 
Saviour: “Be ye therefore perfect, as also your 
heavenly Father is perfect.” 6 We call upon the luke¬ 
warm to become fervent, to stir up their sleepy con¬ 
sciences, and to open their souls to the life-giving 
dew of God s grace. For them we use the very strong 
woids ^of Christ, as given us by St. John the Evange¬ 
list : I know thy works, thou art neither cold nor 
hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. But because 
thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will 

^Aets ix. 6. 6 Matt. v. 48. 

5 1. Thess. iv. 3 . 





OPENING OF A MISSION 


17 


begin to vomit thee out of My mouth /’ 7 Do these 
words, does this terrible threat, apply to any of you 
here? Are there persons in this parish who are in 
the fearful state of lukewarmness? If so, they are 
in great danger of being wholly rejected by God for 
their tepidity in His service. 

What is this tepidity of which the Lord speaks in 
such strong and unmistakable language? It is the 
blindness, the voluntary blindness, of the eyes of the 
soul. For as by the eyes of the body we see things 
around us, and thus guide our footsteps, so by the 
eyes of the soul we see the things of God and guide 
our steps heavenward. When the bodily eye is dark, 
the whole world is dark; when the spiritual eye is 
blinded, the world of God cannot be seen. As the 
blind man cannot see the noonday sun, and the glories 
of sky, and land, and ocean, so the spiritually blind 
man cannot see the meridian sun of God’s love shin- 

4 

ing down upon him, nor the wonders of God’s grace 
all around him. Tepidity is generally a state of hid¬ 
den mortal sin, or at least it exposes to a most cer¬ 
tain and dangerous fall into it. Hear again the words 
of our Lord as given us by the same St. John the 
Evangelist: “Thou hast the name of being alive, and 
thou art dead.” 8 

There are very many persons in this fearful state 
of blindness as well as in that of spiritual sloth or 
laziness. They scarcely make a movement in the serv¬ 
ice of God, unless it be dictated by their own sel¬ 
fishness. They are walking on the edge of a precipice 
with their eyes closed, in constant danger of falling 
into the abyss—yes, the abyss of hell. Were they 
really to fall into some overt, positive, terrible crime 
there might be some greater hope for their salvation. 
The sudden fall and shock might wake them up and, 
opening their eyes, they might see God and be sorry 

7 Apoc. iii. 15 , 16 . 8 Apoc. iii. 1 . 



1 8 OPENING OF A MISSION 

and find His grace. But the state of the tepid is a 
frightful, enervating numbness of soul; it is a coma, 
like to the, sleeping sickness, the awakening from 
which is almost a miracle. The tepid man by de¬ 
grees blinds himself and then imagines that light does 
not exist; he may be compared to a blind man in the 
material order, who would assert that there is no sun¬ 
light because he does not see it. 

And so, we call upon all to rise up, to be watchful 
and awake during these days of grace. We ask you 
to enter into the full spirit of the mission, to look 
sincerely into your soul, each one for himself, and 
see the state of that soul and how it stands before 
God. For it is well said in the Imitation of Christ: 
“If we judge ourselves, and look within ourselves, 
we always work with profit to,the soul;” and: “If 
you but turn your thoughts to what you are within, 
you will not care what men say of you. Man looks 
upon the face; God on the heart. Man considers the 
deeds; God weighs the motives.” 9 

The real objective point then of a mission is to 
benefit all classes of men: good, bad, lukewarm. It is 
for the good, that they may become better; for every 
day of your life must be spent, in one way or another, 
in striving to attain this object or goal. If you do 
not go forward in the spiritual life you will inevitably 
go backward, like a man in a boat without oars stri¬ 
ving against a swiftly-moving stream. You cannot 
afford to stand still; you cannot be lukewarm, and 
then imagine you are serving God. 

For religion is life, and life is motion. As you 
must exercise your members, or they will die, so in 
like manner you must practise your religion, and the 
virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity, or they too will 
die in you. 

It will avail you nothing to boast of your religion, 

9 Book I. Chap. 14; Book II. Chap. 6. 


OPENING OF A MISSION 


19 


or vainly call upon God, without doing what He 
commands; for our Saviour says: “Not everyone 
that saith to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the 
kingdom of heaven; but he that doth the will of My 
Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the king¬ 
dom of heaven. Every tree that bringeth not forth 
good fruit shall be cut down, and shall be cast into 
the fire.” 10 Surely you do not wish to be like an 
evil tree, fit only to be destroyed and burned. Then 
look into your soul and see if charity, or the love 
of God and of your neighbor, is there enthroned:. 
Again, our Saviour plainly says: “He that hath My 
commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth 
Me. And he that loveth Me shall be loved of My 
Father; and I will ljpve him, and will manifest My¬ 
self to him.” 11 

From the outline which has been given you, each 
and every one of you can easily see that a mission is 
a very important affair. It may be for the salvation 
of those who rightly attend to it, or for the damnation 
of those who wilfully, carelessly, or superciliously 
neglect the great grace offered by Christ. It may be 
that there are some among you to whom the words 
of St. Peter are applicable: “You were as sheep go¬ 
ing astray; but you are now converted to the shep¬ 
herd and bishop of your souls.” 12 

We solemnly call upon all—the good, the luke¬ 
warm, the bad— to turn to God now, become better, 
be more fervent, and faithful; shake off laziness and 
sloth in God’s service, give up sin in all its subtle 
ways and hideous forms. Remember, you cannot 
copy the bad lives of those around you, whether they 
belong to the Church or not; you will be judged not 
by their thoughts or acts, but by your own. 

No matter how bad your life may be; no matter 

10 Matt. vii. 19, 21. 12 I. Pet. ii. 25. 

11 John xiv. 21. 




20 


OPENING OF A MISSION 


how much you may be in sin; come, come to our Lord, 
for He is patient and always ready to forgive. For 
we have the words of St. Peter: “The Lord delayeth 
not His promise, as some imagine, but dealeth pa¬ 
tiently for your sake, not willing that any should 
perish, but that all should return to penance.” 13 Yes, 
He died that you might be saved, and He does not 
wish to lose you. Have, then, Christian courage. 
Our Lord says to you in the words of the author of 
“The Imitation of Christ”: “Know this: the old 
enemy is bent on stopping your longings for the good 
and keeping you far from every holy exercise; from 
reverencing the saints, from the pious remembrance of 
My Passion, from useful recollection of your sins, 
from the watch upon your heart, and from your 
strong resolve to make progress in virtue. Many an 
evil thought he suggests, to make you weary and to 
frighten you, to call you from prayer and holy read¬ 
ing. Humble confession displeases him, and, if he 
could, he would make you stop Communion.” 14 Our 
Father in heaven promises that, if your sins be as 
scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow; and they 
be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool . 15 

With God’s help, we will do what lies in our power 
to assist you in this most important affair; you do 
what lies in your power. Come to Mass, especially; 
be at as many of the other exercises as you possibly 
can. Make up your mind to go to confession at the 
earliest opportunity, so that you can receive holy Com¬ 
munion every day. Pray fervently, each one for him¬ 
self, his family, and for all in the parish, that the 
mission may be a great success, not only in the num¬ 
ber of attendants, but in fervor and love of God and 
of your neighbor. That this love may be quickened, 
not only during this mission, but may be kept alive 

13 II. Pet. iii. 9. 15 Is. i. 18. 

* 4 Book IV. Chap. 6. 


OPENING OF A MISSION 


21 


and exercised during the remainder of your life, is 
the object of the mission and the ardent desire of the 
missioners. 


ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 


“What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole 
world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what 
exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matt. xvi. 
26.) 


SYNOPSIS 

The importance of the warning.—The value of the soul, and 
the need of salvation.—Activity of men for worldly gain.— 
Worldly gain no good for heaven.—Blindness towards the 
eternal.—The right care of worldly goods.—Poverty in spirit.— 
Care of the soul.—People wise in worldly things.—Service of God 
through routine.—What is religion?—External religion or lip- 
service.—Watch always.—What sin is.—The consequences of 
sin.—God the life of the soul.—Strength of the soul’s enemies.— 
Avoid danger.—Be fervent.—Spiritual pride.—Importance of the 
soul’s care.—Salvation.—If saved, all is gained.—If lost, all is 
lost.—Who gives all, gains all. Daily, observation of passing 
things.—What good are riches, honors, etc., with a bad con¬ 
science?—God judges not as the world does.—Death and judg¬ 
ment.—Our Saviour’s warning.—Death leveler of all things.— 
Shall I be saved or lost?—Forgiveness through sorrow and co¬ 
operation.—When the guilty soul appears before God.—What the 
world thinks.—The soul is destined for God.—Life is a pilgrim¬ 
age.—Rest in peace.—Fight the good fight.—The greater the 
trial, the greater the reward.—Do not boast, act.—Faith without 
works is dead.—God is with you.'—What others have done, you 
can do.—Consolation at time of death.—The cry of St. Augustine 
for salvation. 

Never were there words of greater weight, or which 
carry more warning, than these spoken by the lips of 
Truth itself, the incarnate God, Jesus Christ our Lord. 
They will sound down the ages until the end of the 
world, for they were uttered by Him to bring clearly 
before the minds of men that for which they were 
created; that for which they were redeemed; that for 
which they were sanctified. 

On the one hand, they should remind you of the 

22 


ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 23 

priceless value of your immortal soul, and on the 
other, the immeasurable and overwhelming importance 
of salvation. In His sermon on the Mount our di¬ 
vine Saviour again warns about over-solicitude for the 
things of this world to the danger of the soul’s loss: 
“Be not solicitous, therefore, saying, What shall we 
eat; or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we 
be clothed? For after all these things do the heathens 
seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need 
of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the king¬ 
dom of God, and His justice.” 1 St. Paul, the great 
Apostle of the Gentiles, says: “Wherefore, my dearly 
beloved, with fear and trembling work out your sal¬ 
vation.” 2 And again the same Apostle says: “Know 
you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, 
but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may 
obtain. And every one that striveth for the mas¬ 
tery, refraineth himself from all things: and they 
indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; 
but we an incorruptible one.” 3 Thus it is that the 
holy Apostle makes a strong comparison between the 
hard labor of those who strive to win an earthly re¬ 
ward and of those who fight for a heavenly crown. 
If temporal and passing affairs impose upon man such 
a large share of toil and care, how much more dil¬ 
igently should he work in behalf of his eternal wel¬ 
fare? St. Bernard says in this connection: “Never 
admit the least thought prejudicial to your salvation 
—I say too little—I mean the least thought which 
does not concern or some way tend to your salvation. 
If any occur, it is to be rejected.” 4 

Seeing men and women so industrious, so active 
and vigilant in the pursuit of worldly gain, one would 
be inclined to believe that they were possessed with 
one thought—that of laying up temporal goods to 

1 Matt. vi. 31-33- 3 I- Cor. ix. 24, 25. 

2 Phil. ii. 12. 4 De Cons. II. Ch. 3. 


24 


ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 


last them for an endless series of years. Looking at 
this incessant watchfulness over passing gains, and 
the feverish anxiety lest they be lost, one is led to 
wonder whether these people imagine they are to live 
here forever, or whether they expect tO' take with 
them into the next world the gains of this. But 
there are no pockets in a shroud, and a coffin is not 
a safety-deposit vault. No, men cannot live in this 
world forever, neither can they take into the next 
what they gather with so much care and uneasiness 
and forgetfulness of God in this life. For the world 
beyond the grave is spiritual, and there only spiritual 
goods will avail: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures 
on earth; where the rust and moth consume, and where 
thieves break through and steal,” says our divine 
Saviour, “but lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven: 
where neither the rust nor the moth doth consume, 
and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. 
For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also.” 5 
And St. Paul admonishes all men to “look not at the 
things which are seen, but at the things which are not 
seen. For the things which are seen, are temporal, 
but the things which are not seen, are eternal .” 6 
This is what caused the great St. Augustine to cry 
out to God: “Thou madest us for Thyself, and our 
heart is restless, until it repose in Thee.” 7 

Yet see the blindness of a great part of mankind! 
Men fall into the deadly error of placing the temporal 
before the eternal, the changeable before the un¬ 
changeable, the world here before the world hereafter. 
To each one of you who is in danger of falling into 
this state of mind the Lord God speaks in these words: 
“Love the Lord thy God, and obey His voice, and 
adhere to Him, for He is thy life, and the length of thy 
days.” 8 The perishable goods of this world, which 

5 Matt. vi._ 19-21. 7 Conf. Book. I. Ch. i. 

6 II. Cor. iv. 18. 8 Deut. xxx. 20. 


ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 25 

are gathered together with no less disquiet of mind 
than they are kept with anxiety, take up the whole 
attention of men and draw off their minds from think¬ 
ing of the reason why they were created by Almighty 
God—namely, to save their immortal souls. 

The thought of the emptiness of all worldly things 
made St. Augustine cry out in the wonderful Book 
of his Confessions: “Perish everything; dismiss we 
these empty vanities and betake ourselves to the one 
search for truth! Life is vain, death uncertain: if it 
steals upon us on a sudden, in what state shall we 
depart hence? And where shall we learn what here 
we have neglected? And shall we not rather suffer 
the punishment of this negligence? What if death it¬ 
self cut off and end all care and feeling ?” 9 

It would be very foolish on my part to advise you 
to neglect the things of this world, in order that you 
might give your whole mind to the care of your soul. 
Should I do so, I would be preaching only a vain and 
empty doctrine. For God sent you into this world 
that you might take care of every gift Fie gives you. 
“What is man that Thou art mindful of him? Thou 
hast made him a little less than the angels: with honor 
and glory Thou hast crowned him, and hast appointed 
him over the works of Thy hands,” says the holy King 
David . 10 You are bound to be active and industri¬ 
ous, for by being so you can lawfully and worthily 
amass as much wealth and possessions as any man 
may obtain. But to place your whole soul in the 
affairs of this world, for the gaining of earthly things, 
which when once obtained are used in unworthy and 
evil ways to the danger of your salvation, is what 
is forbidden by Almighty God. For a man may be 
very rich in worldly wealth, and yet, by not placing 
his whole heart in his riches and in the acquisition of 

9 St. Aug. Conf. Book VI. 10 Ps. viii. 9. 

Ch. 10. 





26 


ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 


them, he may be very poor in spirit, according to the 
beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs 
is the kingdom of heaven.’’ 11 

In any way we look at it, we do not own the 
things of this world, for “the earth is the Lord’s and 
the fulness thereof: the world, and all they that dwell 
therein,” 12 as David says. And he again reminds 
us: “Know ye that the Lord He is God; He made us, 
and not we ourselves.” 13 And not only that, but after 
we had squandered our birthright or inheritance, we 
were again bought back by Christ, as St. Peter tells 
us, “not with corruptible things, as gold or silver, but 
with His own precious blood ”; 14 therefore, “you are 
not your own, for you are bought with a great 
price.” 1,5 

In order, then, that you may have a clear knowl¬ 
edge of the subject on which I am preaching, namely, 
the importance of salvation, I shall, in the first place, 
try and explain to you what is meant by having a 
care of your soul; then I shall try and show you how 
needful and important this care is. 

There are people who are very wise and careful in 
the affairs of this world, who are very cautious and 
unerring in detecting the true from the false, the real 
from the unreal. In bargains, in business, in finance, 
in finding good security for their property or money, 
they seem always to be on the safe side, and always 
choose the better way. 

Now, let us calmly apply this method of acting to 
find out who they are that choose the safest way to 
arrive at the end for which they were created. For 
there is a judicious, as well as an injudicious method, 
a saving, as well as a squandering, in this matter. 
Oftentimes, what is looked upon as a rightful care of 

11 Matt. v. 3. 14 I. Pet. i. 18. 

12 Ps. xxiii. 1. is i. Cor. jg 

* 3 Ps. xcix. 3. 


ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 

the soul is by no means such, but, on the contrary, is 
the most improper and mistaken way. 

First of all, religious works clone through mere 
routine and habit, such as prayer said without any 
thought of what is being done, or any regard for Him 
to whom you speak; attendance at Mass, or at any of 
the beautiful services of the Church, only because it 
may be fashionable, or because others are doing it, is 
by no means religion, but on the contrary, may be¬ 
come the greatest mockery of religion. Even the re¬ 
ception of the Sacraments, instead of being beneficial 
to the soul, may become a means of greater con¬ 
demnation, for not being rightly received. These and 
all other religious duties must first have their roots 
in the heart, the foundation must be solidly laid, or 
the building will topple over. That is the reason 
why, in time of trouble, or care, or persecution of any 
kind, so many are found wanting. That is the rea¬ 
son why so many give up their faith, either for worldly 
gain or on account of human respect. 

Religion is the bond that binds you to God; it is a 
thing which must influence every action of your life. 
No matter how you may be occupied, your religion 
must be with you in all things. For religion is life 
and embraces all of your duties to God, to your fel¬ 
low-man, and to yourself. 

But some think they are religious because they give 
an hour or so on Sunday, often indeed with inattention, 
to Almighty God who created them, and who has 
given them all that they have and hope for. During 
the rest of the week, the claims of God are almost, 
if not altogether, forgotten, and the call of the world 
is well heeded. Very little, if any prayer; no offering 
of work to God; maybe actually falling day by day into 
many venial, and even mortal sins; impurity, drunken¬ 
ness, slander, scandal, backbiting, injustice and robbery 
—these fill in the weeks, yea, even the years of some 








28 


ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 


Catholics. They may be waiting for a mission, but 
they are only waiting for a miracle which God will 
not work. If this is religion; if this is serving God; 
if any one expects salvation in this way; then all the 
trials, all the sufferings and tortures and menaces that 
the martyrs and confessors underwent are nothing but 
the greatest foolishness and deepest superstition. 

But something besides lip-service is necessary for 
salvation, for our divine Saviour Himself, using the 
words of the prophet Isaias against the great lip- 
servers of his own time, said to the Pharisees and 
through them to all others of their kind: “Hypo¬ 
crites, well hath Isaias prophesied; of you saying: 
This people honoreth Me with their lips, but their 
heart is far from Me.” 1G These words of our blessed 
Lord can be well applied to many at the present day, 
who foolishly dream that they are religious people, 
when they mutter a few prayers, go to Mass on Sun¬ 
days and days of obligation, with malice, impurity, 
and many other evils hidden away in their hearts, or 
who even receive the Sacraments of Penance and the 
Holy Eucharist in a cold and listless manner. No, 
those hearts can never be touched by God’s grace by 
reason of such lip-service and hypocrisy. 

Then, again, there are some who are apparently 
good and pious as long as the eyes of the world are 
upon them. Their religion is used only as a means to 
some personal gain or profit, and is acted out exter¬ 
nally for this end alone. But the moment they en¬ 
counter opposition in the narrow groove they have 
marked out for themselves, they show themselves in 
their true colors and the cloak of hypocrisy falls 
away. To these persons, whether in business, politics, 
or any other calling in life, may not the strong words 
of our Lord to the Pharisees of His time be applied: 
“Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: be- 
16 Matt. xv. 7, 8. 







ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 29 

cause you are like to whited sepulchres, which out¬ 
wardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of 
dead men’s bones, and of all filthiness. So you also 
outwardly indeed appear to men just: but inwardly 
you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity”? 17 

Also, there are others who do their utmost to serve 
God and the world at the same time; to make extremes 
meet; to perform two things which are as opposed to 
each other as day is to night. They are wholly for¬ 
getful of this saying of our divine Saviour: 
“No man can serve two masters. For either 
he will hate the one, and love the other, or he will 
sustain the one, and despise the other. You can¬ 
not serve God and mammon.” 18 

No, it cannot be done; you must either serve God 
or you must serve the devil. “He that is not with 
Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with 
Me scattereth.” 19 The Lord your God admonishes 
you through the mouth of Ezechiel the prophet in 
these words: “Cast away from you all your trans¬ 
gressions, by which you have transgressed, and make 
to yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.” 20 

This brings me now to the question of what it is 
to have a rightful and proper care of one’s soul. First 
of all, it is to forsake sin, for mortal sin is the only 
real evil, and the only thing that opposes itself to the 
soul’s salvation. Hence, beyond and above all is the 
obligation of never falling into mortal sin. This can be 
surely done by all those who watch and pray; but as 
a great number of persons can never say that they 
have not sinned mortally, and that many times, so they 
have to perform the part of penitents, be sorry for 
their sins, and forsake them. You should never pass 
a day of your life without a fervent and heartfelt act 
of contrition and a resolution of never sinning again; 

17 Matt, xxiii. 27, 28. 19 Luke xi. 23. 

is Matt. vi. 24. 20 Ezech. xvni. 31. 





30 ON THE IMPORTANCE OE SALVATION 

you should examine your conscience from time to 
time and see how you stand before God; you should 
often go to confession and then especially make a 
more thorough examination and renew your act of 
contrition for your sins. “Fear God, and keep His 
commandments: for this is all man. And all things 
that are done, God will bring into judgment for every 
error, whether it be good or evil.” 21 

St. Bernard says: “No man is virtuous who does 
not perpetually strive and desire to be more virtuous. 
He gives a proof of greater perfection by how much 
the more earnestly he labors to attain higher.” 22 
And St. Augustine says: “Stand with Him, and ye 
shall stand fast. Rest in Him, and ye shall be at rest. 
Whither go ye in rough ways ? Whither go ye ? The 
good that you love is from Him; but it is good and 
pleasant through reference to Him, and justly shall it 
be embittered, because unjustly is anything loved 
which is from Him, if He be forsaken for it.” 23 

Then again, you must watch always that you may 
not fall back into your past sins, for says St. Paul: 
“All you are the children of light, and children of 
the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 
Therefore, let us not sleep, as others do: but let us 
watch, and be sober.” 24 That you may do this, call 
to mind the terrible evil that sin is: how horrible it is 
in the sight of God; how Jesus Christ our Saviour 
died through sin and suffered the agony of the cross 
to atone for it. By sin the creature rebels against the 
Creator; the son spurns the commands of the most lov¬ 
ing of fathers; the wretched worm turns against the Al¬ 
mighty God. “After this, dost thou not marvel how 
bolts are not launched, and all things are not plucked 
up from their foundations? For worthy both of 
thunderbolts and hell are the things that are done: 

21 Eccles. xii. 13, 14. 23 Conf. Book IV. Ch. 12. 

22 Ep. 254. 24 I. Thess. v. 5, 6. 


ON THE IMPORTANCE OE SALVATION 


3 1 


but God, who is long-suffering and of great mercy, 
forbears awhile His wrath, calling thee to repentance 
and amendment.” 25 

Besides, if you stop to think for a moment of the 
terrible consequences of sin, and the awful punish¬ 
ment of the loss of God, and the fire of hell for 
eternity, these should impress any one of you with a 
deep and lasting fear, and a determination to care for 
your soul. St. Paul uses a strong term when he says: 
“The wages of sin is death. But the grace of God,, 
life everlasting.” 20 This means that as a man work¬ 
ing for wages gets what he hired for at the end of his. 
labor, so in like manner the man who sins works for 
and is the slave of the devil, and in the end his wages 
is death—not of the body, but the terrible, eternal 
death of the soul. And this is just what St. Augustine 
said nearly fifteen hundred years ago and has as much 
force now as when it first came from his holy lips in 
preaching to his people: “Let each one,” he cried 
out, “look into his own soul: if it sins, it dies: sin 
is a death of the soul.” 27 

The life of the soul is God; as light and heat are 
absolutely necessary for the life of your body, so the 
lffiht of God’s truth and the warmth of His love are 

u 

as absolutely necessary for the life of your soul. 
Sin, mortal sin, is the only thing which can deprive 
you of this heavenly light and heat. If you consider 
the cunning strength of the enemies of your soul, 
and your own weakness, you will agree with me when 
I say that you must be always on guard, and seek 
wisdom and strength from above. For the world 
around you, the weakness within you, and “your 
adversary, the devil,” who, St. Peter tells you, “as 
a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may de¬ 
vour,” 2S " sufficiently prove to you the need of God’s 

25 St. John Chrysostom, Ser- 27 On the Gospel of St. John, 

mon 73, No. 3- Sermon 49, No. 3. 

26 Rom. vi. 23. 28 I. Pet. v. 8. 




32 


ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 


help. “Watch ye, and pray, that you enter not into 
temptation.” 29 

Avoid the danger—keep away from those persons, 
places, and things that have been the cause of your 
fall before now, or that you foresee will be the cause 
of your fall in the future, “for he that loveth danger 
shall perish in it.” 30 “Wherefore he that thinketh 
himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall.” 31 For 
as sometimes it happens that travelers, overcome by 
intense cold, become benumbed and sleepy and lie down 
in the snow only to meet their death: so also will it 
happen to those who, traveling through this life, be¬ 
come cold and benumbed for the want of the warmth 
of God’s love and lie down in the stupor of eternal 
death. 

Do not trust in yourselves, but put all your trust in 
God. Do not think you have no sin; do not be puffed 
up with pride by imagining you are better than others. 
St. Augustine says : “Therefore, to be righteous over¬ 
much is, by that very excess, to be unrighteous. 
Namely, that person makes himself righteous over¬ 
much, who saith he hath no sin; or who thinks that he 
is made righteous not by the grace of God, but by 
his own sufficing thereto; nor is he righteous by living 
aright, but rather puffed up by thinking himself to be 
what he is not.” 32 

It is also said in “The Imitation of Christ”: “The 
deepest lesson for a man to learn is this, and the most 
useful too: truly to know—aye, and to despise—him¬ 
self. Great wisdom is it and perfection to think no 
great things of yourself, and always well and highly 
of your neighbor. If you were to see another clearly 
sin, or do some grievous deed, you should not think 
the better of yourself. For how long can you stay 
good? You cannot tell. We are all frail. But this 

29 Mark xiv. 38. 32 On the Gospel of St. John, 

30 Ecclus. iii. 27. Sermon 95, No. 2. 

31 1. Cor. x. 12. 



ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 33 

must be your thought—‘none is more frail than I.* ” 33 
And our Lord says: “I am the Vine: you are the 
branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the 
same beareth much fruit: for without Me you can do 
nothing.” 34 

St. John Chrysostom says: “The best thing, then, 
is to avoid sin in the first instance; the next to it, is 
to feel that we sin, and thoroughly amend ourselves. 
But if we have not this, how shall we pray to God 
and ask forgiveness of our sins—we who take no 
account of these matters? For when thou thyself 
who hast offended art unwilling to know so much as 
this very fact, that thou hast sinned: for what manner 
of offenses wilt thou entreat God for pardon? For 
what thou knoweth not? And how wilt thou know 
the greatness of the benefit?” 35 And St. Paul says: 
“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, so 
as to obey the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your 
members as instruments of iniquity unto sin: but 
present yourselves to God, as those that are alive from 
the dead, and your members as instruments of justice 
unto God.” 36 

So far, you have seen what it is fo have improper 
and proper care of your soul’s salvation; let us now 
show you how necessary and important is this right¬ 
ful care of the soul. 

To save your soul is the principal, in fact, the only 
reason why you were created at all. Your catechism 
tells you that God made you to know Him, to love 
Him, to serve Him in this world, and to be with Him 
forever happy in the next. “Do we owe much to God 
for our creation? Very much, seeing that He made us 
in such a perfect state, creating us for Himself, and 
all things else for us.” 37 

33 Book I. Chap. ii. 36 Rom. vi. 12, 13. 

34 John xv. 15. 37 “Christian Doctrine,” by 

35 Sermon 14; No. 5. Dr. Doyle, O. S. A., page 12. 




34 ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 

Though you should be condemned to the lowest 
state of infamy on earth; though you should suffer 
stripes and prisons, tortures and slander, contempt and 
shame, what will it all amount to, if in the end you 
are saved for eternity? If, in suffering these things, 
you save your soul, then you gain everything; if, in 
gaining the applause and esteem of men and in yield¬ 
ing to your passions you lose your soul, then all is 
lost for eternity. Let me repeat the text—the words 
of our divine Saviour—with which I began this ser¬ 
mon: “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the 
whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul ?” 38 
And again He says: “If any man will follow Me, 
let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow 
Me .” 39 

I wish with all the power of which I am capable to 
call your attention to this particular point of the ser¬ 
mon. What will it profit the impure man when he 
is in hell? There he will be terribly tortured for his 
lustfulness. What will it profit the drunkard when 
he is in hell? There he will be in agonies of thirst 
for eternity. What will it profit the unjust, the miser, 
and all those who sell out God for the world? In 
hell they will be without Him for eternity. “He that 
loveth his life shall lose it: and he that hateth his 
life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal ”; 40 by 
which our Saviour means, that those who love their 
lives in this world to the damage of their eternal 
life shall lose that life eternal; and those who allow 
not the things of this world to take up their whole 
care, shall get everything in the world to come. 

The care of your soul and its salvation is most 
necessary from the facts of daily observation, namely, 
that all the things of this world are vain and pass 
away. All earthly goods, though they be gotten with 

38 Matt. xvi. 26. 40 John xii. 25. 

39 Mark viii. 34. 





ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 35 

all the uneasiness and anxiety possible, are never¬ 
theless hollow and empty. Honor, wealth, position, 
renown never did, and never will fill up the heart of 
man. They vanish and disappear like smoke in the 
air. “Vanity of vanities;” said Ecclesiastes, “vanity 
of vanities, and all is vanity. What hath a man more 
of all his labor, than he taketh under the sun? I 
have seen all things that are done under the sun, and 
behold all is vanity, and vexation of spirit.” 41 No, 
the heart of man is created for God, and nothing but 
God will satisfy it. 

Tell me, what good would all the riches and honors 
and pleasures of the senses be to you, if your con¬ 
science reproaches you for living in the state of mortal 
sin? You are an enemy of God and in danger of 
hell-fire. You might have the riches of the whole 
earth, but without God you are poorer than the meanest 
beggar. Many a man is rich in this world’s estima¬ 
tion; many a man has attained the topmost pinnacle 
of human glory and earthly greatness; and yet, in the 
eyes of the all-seeing God, he may be the most miser¬ 
able, the meanest, the most despicable of men. On 
the other hand, those who are of no account in the 
eyes of the world, who are despised by its followers 
as mean and low and contemptible, are incalculably 
rich in the eyes of God; for as men are before God, 
that and nothing else is their worth. 

In the Book of Wisdom we read that on the last 
day of reckoning “the just shall stand with constancy 
against those that have afflicted them, and taken away 
their labors. These seeing it, shall be troubled with 
terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the suddenness of 
their unexpected salvation. Saying within them¬ 
selves, repenting, and groaning for anguish of spirit. 
These are they, whom we had sometime in derision, 
and for a parable of reproach. We fools esteemed 

41 Eccles. i. 2, 3, 14. 







36 ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 

their life madness, and their end without honor. Be¬ 
hold now they are numbered among the children of 
God, and their lot is among the saints.” 42 From all 
we have hitherto said, you can see how important the 
care of your salvation is. On that care will depend 
whether or not your lot will be among the saints. 

Again, it is important that you have a great care 
of your salvation, because death may at any time un¬ 
expectedly come upon you, and find you unprepared, 
as it has no doubt found many before you. “It is 
appointed unto men once to die, and after this the 
judgment,” 43 and for this reason the Church prays 
in the Litany of the Saints: “From a sudden and 
unprovided death, deliver us, O Lord.” Ah! there 
it is; not so much the death, but the judgment fol¬ 
lowing it, that you are bound to look out for. Our 
divine Saviour gives warning to us, as He spoke to 
those in the days of His life upon earth: “Be you 
then also ready: for at what hour you think not, 
the Son of man will come .” 44 Again, He says: 
“Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth 
and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and 
they see his shame.” 45 Yes, the garments that we 
are to keep are the good works which we do, without 
which we will be naked and shameful in the sight of 
the all-holy God. 

At death the richest become the poorest, and the 
poorest the richest. Death is the greatest leveler 
known to man: the learned and the unlearned; the 
rich and the poor; the wise and the foolish; the king 
and the beggar; the handsome and the ugly—all are 
leveled to the same position by death. As is so aptly 
said by a pagan Roman poet: “Pale death, with im¬ 
partial step, knocks at the huts of the poor and the 
palaces of kings.” 46 

42 Wis. v. 1-5. 

43 Heb. ix. 27. 

44 Luke xii. 40. 


45 Apoc. xvi. 15. 

46 Car. 1, 4, 13. 


ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 37 

“What are time and earth, beauty and peace to us? 
What is anything to us, if our sins be not forgiven? 
Is not that our one want? Does not all our happi¬ 
ness come of that one want being satisfied? The 
thought of its being unsatisfied is not to be endured. 
But the thought of eternity is not to be faced, if our 
sins be not forgiven. But an eternal ruin—is that a 
possible thing? Possible! yes, inevitable, if our sins 
be not forgiven.” 47 

And yet, the loving Saviour promises you that He 
will forgive you your sins, if you only are sorry 
for them and co-operate with Him in the work of your 
salvation; otherwise all is lost, and you have no one 
to blame but yourself. 

“Oh, what a moment for the poor soul when it 
comes to itself and finds itself suddenly before the 
judgment-seat of Christ! Oh, what a moment when, 
breathless with the journey, and dizzy with the bright¬ 
ness, and overwhelmed with the strangeness of what 
is happening to him, and unable to realize where he is, 
the sinner hears the voice of the accusing spirit, bring¬ 
ing up all the sins of his past life, which he has for¬ 
gotten, or which he has explained away, which he 
would not allow to be sins, though he suspected they 
were; when he hears him detailing all the mercies of 
God which he despised, all His warnings which he 
set at naught, all His judgments which he has out¬ 
lived; when that evil one follows out into detail the 
growth and progress of a lost soul—how it expanded 
and was confirmed in sin, how it budded forth into 
leaves and flowers, grew into branches, and ripened 
into fruit, till nothing was wanting for its full condem¬ 
nation ! And oh! still more terrible, still more distract¬ 
ing, when the Judge speaks, and consigns it to the 
jailers, till it shall pay the endless debt which lies 
against it! . . . And the poor soul struggles and 

47 Father Faber, “The Precious Blood,” page 61. 




38 ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 

wrestles in the grasp of the mighty demon which has 
hold of it and whose every touch is torment. . . . 
Alas, poor soul! And whilst it thus fights with that 
destiny which it has brought upon itself, and with 
those companions whom it has chosen, the man’s name 
perhaps is solemnly chanted forth, and his memory 
decently cherished among his friends on earth. His 
readiness in speech, his fertility in thought, his saga¬ 
city, or his wisdom, are not forgotten. Men talk of 
him from time to time; they appeal to his authority; 
they quote his words; perhaps they even raise a monu¬ 
ment to his name, or write his history. Oh, vanity! 
vanity of vanities, all is vanity! What profiteth it? 
What profiteth it? His soul is in hell. Oh, ye chil¬ 
dren of men, while thus ye speak, his soul is in the 
beginning of those torments in which his body will 
soon have part, and which will never die.” 48 

The care of salvation is all-important, because being 
created in God’s image and likeness, man has been 
destined by the Almighty for immortal glory and hap¬ 
piness. You have been redeemed—bought back—by 
the agony and precious Blood of our blessed Saviour; 
the price paid is beyond all count—the Blood of the 
Sacred Heart of Jesus. Your body with its wondrous 
fashioning is the temple of the Holy Ghost and the 
abode of your immortal soul. The goods of this 
world are given to you, more or less: not to place 
your whole heart and soul in them, but that they may 
be for your use here, and in the end for your eternal 
salvation. The earth itself is destined as a place of 
pilgrimage and as a preparation for a happy eternity. 
As the traveler on his way to a given end tarries not 
long in any place, and carries with him only what 
is necessary, so ought you, travelers towards heaven, 
not delay on the road with idle and sinful curiosities, 

48 Cardinal Newman. “Discourses tp Mixed Congregations ” 
.page 37. 



ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 39 

nor carry with you an overload of this world’s bag¬ 
gage—that is, a sinful affection for the things of 
earth. St. Paul says: “We have not here a lasting 
city, but we seek one that is to come.” 49 

“Put all your trust in God,” as is said in “The 
Imitation of Christ,” “and let Him be your fear, your 
love. He will answer for you; He will do what shall 
be best, and He will do it well. Here you have no 
abiding city: everywhere you are a stranger and a 
pilgrim, nor will you ever find rest, save you be in¬ 
timately one with Christ. Why here look you round, 
when this is not your resting place?” 50 For after all 
is over, after you “have borne the burden of the day 
and heats,” 51 what a consolation and a comfort to 
have rest and peace for eternity! After you have 
carried your cross, as your Saviour did before you 
over the sorrowful and painful way of the world, 
what a reward you will receive from your Saviour! 
Here you may be bowed down with trials and tribula¬ 
tions; here you may be poor and of little honor in 
the world’s eyes: there you will have riches beyond 
measure, and honors of which you never dreamt and 
which your minds are incapable of conceiving. There 
will be in that joyful state no sadness, no envy, no 
strife, no hatred: “for God shall wipe away all tears 
from your eyes: and death shall be no more, nor 
mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be no more, 
for the former things are passed away.” 52 

There you will receive an everlasting and unspeak¬ 
able reward; and for what? For bearing here for a 
few years the passing trials of this life. If here you 
bear up for a while, there you will be rewarded for 
eternity. But in order that you may get this exceed¬ 
ing great reward, you must fight for it—fight against 
the world, the devil, and your own bad inclinations. 

49 Heb. xiii. 14. 51 Matt. xx. 12. 

50 Book II. Ch. 1. 62 Apoc. xxiv. 4. 






40 ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 

“For he that striveth for the mastery, is not crowned, 
except he strive lawfully,” 03 as says St. Paul; and 
St. John says, quoting the words of our Saviour, “Be 
thou faithful until death; and I will give thee the 
crown of life.” 64 St. Gregory the Great says: “If 
we think of the kind of things which are promised us 
in heaven, all that we hold on earth should be cheap 
in our minds.” 55 

Your reward will be greater in proportion to the 
care you have taken. The more you struggle here, 
the easier will you rest hereafter: the more trouble 
here, the greater peace there; the poorer in spirit here, 
the richer in all things there. Christ says: “Blessed 
are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of 
heaven. Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess 
the land. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall 
be comforted. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst 
after justice: for they shall have their fill. Blessed 
are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 
Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God. 
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called 
the children of God. Blessed are they that suffer per¬ 
secution for justice’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom 
of heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, 
and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against 
you, untruly, for My sake: Be glad and rejoice, for 
your reward is very great in heaven.” 56 

To get to heaven it is not enough to boast of, or 
make speeches about, your religion—you must keep 
the commandments of God and obey His Church. 
For our divine Saviour says: “Not every one that 
saith to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom 
of heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father 
who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of 

63 II. Tim. ii. 5 . 65 Sermon 37, on St. Luke’s 

54 Apoc. ii. 10. Gospel. 

56 Matt. v. 3-12. 


ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 41 

heaven.” 57 St. James says: “Be ye doers of the 
word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 
So faith also, if it have not works, is dead in it¬ 
self.” r,s So it is with many who expect salvation, 
but do nothing to deserve it—nay, rather they are 
preparing themselves for hell. “Therefore, my be¬ 
loved brethren,” as St. Paul exhorts, “be ye steadfast 
and immovable; always abounding in the work of the 
Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the 
Lord.” 59 

Strive, then, manfully, in this most important duty; 
battle with the devil, the world, and yourself. With 
God on your side you will be the winner; without 
Him, you will be the loser. “If God be for us, who 
is against us? Who then shall separate us from the 
love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or 
famine? or nakedness? or danger? or persecution? or 
the sword?” 60 Look up to heaven; see those who 
have gone before you. They were men and women 
like yourselves; they had the same temptations, the 
same troubles, the same world to fight as you: and 
now they are saints. What they did you can do with 
God’s help. If they gained the crown after the torture 
of crucifixion, like St. Peter with his head down¬ 
wards; if they entered into glory, like St. Paul, by the 
axe of the headsman; if they were slowly roasted over 
a fire, like St. Lawrence; if torn to pieces by wild 
beasts; if they gave up their whole lives to solitude, 
prayer, and mortification: surely you can do some¬ 
thing every day for God. To work is to pray, when 
it is done for God; offer then all your works—no 
matter of what kind—to God. It is not what you do, 
but how you do it, that counts with God. 

Oh, what a consolation will it be for you when you 
are to leave this world, if you can truly say with St. 

57 Matt. vii. 21. 59 I. Cor. xv. 58. 

ss James i. 22; ii. 17. 60 Rom. viii. 31, 35. 





42 


ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 


Paul: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished 
my course, I have kept the faith. As to the rest, 
there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the 
Lord, the just Judge, will render to me in that 
day.” G1 If each one of you will endeavor to do what 
I have urged upon you, then you can look backward 
upon a well-spent life and forward to a restful, happy 
eternity. You can again say with the great Apostle 
of the Gentiles: “Forgetting the things that are be¬ 
hind, and stretching forth myself to those that are 
before, I press towards the mark of the supernal voca¬ 
tion in Christ Jesus.” 02 Oh! if you are really and 
truly able to say this, then your lot will be, beyond all 
thought, happy and blessed. 

And now, my dearly beloved brethren, I cannot 
end this sermon without repeating for you the cry to 
God of a man who had greatly sinned and nobly 
repented: it is a petition to God welling up from the 
burning heart of the great St. Augustine: 

“Oh! that I might repose in Thee! Oh! that Thou 
wouldst enter into my heart, and inebriate it, that I 
may forget my ills, and embrace Thee, my sole God! 
What art Thou to me? In Thy pity, teach me to 
utter it. Or what am I to Thee that Thou demandest 
my love, and if I give it not, art wroth with me, and 
threatenest me with grievous woes ? Is it then a slight 
woe to love Thee not? Oh! for Thy mercies’ sake, 
tell me, O Lord my God, what Thou art unto me:— 
‘Say unto my soul: I am thy salvation .’ 63 So 
speak that I may hear. Behold, Lord, my heart is 
before Thee: open Thou the ears thereof, and say 
unto my soul: ‘I am thy salvation.’ After this 
voice, let me haste and take hold on Thee. Hide not 
Thy face from me. Let me die—lest I die—only let 
me see Thy face.” 64 Amen. 


61 II. Tim. iv. 7, 8. 
62 Phil. iii. 13, 14. 


63 Ps. xxxiv. 3. 

6 * Conf. Book I. No. 5. 




ON SIN 


“What things a man shall sow, those also shall he 
reap, for he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also 
shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, 
of the spirit shall reap life everlasting.” (Gal. vi. 8.) 

SYNOPSIS 

The first object of a mission.—Sin is the greatest misfortune. 
—Comparisons between sin and other evils.—Death in sin.—The 
worst form of physical death is better than the death of the soul. 
—What is mortal sin?—Cardinal Newman on the world’s es¬ 
timate of sin.—St. Augustine’s definition of sin.—Sin begins in 
thought.—It is not so easy to sin as some imagine. Sin sets up a 
chronic condition in the soul.—Sin is slavery.—All mortal sins 
are fundamentally the same.—One mortal sin casts God out of 
the soul.—The will is the seat of sin.—Habit of sin.—Sin is re¬ 
bellion.—The blame is only on ourselves.—No one is forced into 
sin.—The worldly.—Salvation is by correspondence with God’s 
grace.—The Church is founded to guide men.—Calvary and hell. 
—What sin has done.—Final prayer. 


One of the first objects of a mission is to impress 
upon those who attend it the evil of all kinds of sin, 
but most especially the terrible abomination of mortal 
sin. In the days of your childhood and youth you 
were taught by your catechism that the greatest pos¬ 
sible misfortune that could befall you was mortal 
sin. And no doubt you made comparisons in your 
young minds between this evil and that which comes 
through terrible wars, or fearful epidemics of death¬ 
bearing sickness, or through frightful earthquakes, or 
floods, and you thought then, as maybe you do now, 
of the misery and wretchedness and squalor and pov¬ 
erty that are in the world to-day and have been since 
man came on the earth. 

And in the face of all this you are asked to believe 

43 


44 


ON SIN 


that mortal sin is an evil beyond our comprehension, 
that, beside it, every other evil is insignificant, in fact, 
is the outcome merely of the only real evil—namely 
mortal sin. All other evils or misfortunes can in some 
measure be either averted or overcome, may be either 
lessened or borne with an even and a patient mind; at 
the worst they may deprive us only of temporal, pass¬ 
ing things; and if they bring on death, we know that 
this is the natural lot of all. But when I speak of 
death brought about by sin, I do not mean that na¬ 
tural severance of the soul and the body—oh! not by 
any means. By death in sin I mean a wholly dif¬ 
ferent thing—the fearful misfortune of the separation 
of the soul from God. Human death does not mean 
the death of the soul; it means only the passing away 
from the earthly habitation of the immortal principle 
of life which came from the hands of God, and which 
gave to that habitation light, and heat, and power. 
No, the soul does not die. Even the Roman pagan 
poet says: “I shall not entirely die. The greater 
part of me shall escape oblivion.” 1 But the terrible 
punishment is that it dies to God, for St. James says: 
“When concupiscence hath conceived, it bringeth forth 
sin. But sin, when it is completed, begetteth death.” 2 
Yes, oh, yes! death in its most frightful form, in 
disease the most loathsome, in agony the most painful, 
in sorrow and abandonment the most pitiful, in sud¬ 
denness the most appalling, in the noise and shatter¬ 
ing of battle lines of infantry, or the shock of shells 
and the shrieking and continuous roar of miles of ar¬ 
tillery, in the shouts and curses of men, and the neigh¬ 
ing of battle-mad horses in bloody attacks of cavalry, 
has no comparison with the death of the soul to God 
by the commission of mortal sin. “The wages of sin 
is death. But the grace of God, life everlasting in 

1 Horace, “Carmina,” in, 30, 2 James i. 15. 

1. 



ON SIN 


45 


Christ Jesus our Lord,” says St. Paul,” 3 Yes, the 
wages of sin is death forever, death in the deprivation 
of God’s love and God’s presence, death in the loss 
of that for which we were created—namely, eternal 

I happiness before the face of God: “Thou madest us 
for Thyself,” cries out St. Augustine, to God, “and 
our heart is restless until it repose in Thee.” 4 

What if this insatiable yearning of the soul be 
stifled forever! What if that repose will never come! 
What if this death be eternal! What if God, who is 
the life of the soul and its light, as far as it is con¬ 
cerned be destroyed and quenched forever and for¬ 
ever. In the inspired Book of Job we read: “The 
eyes of the wicked shall decay, and the way to escape 
shall fail them, and their hope the abomination of the 
soul.” 5 No wonder there is this beautiful exhorta¬ 
tion in the Book of Ecclesiasticus: “My son, hast 
thou sinned? Do so no more; but for thy former 
sins also pray that they may be forgiven thee. Flee 
from sins as from the face of a serpent: for if thou 
comest near them, they will take hold of thee. The 
teeth thereof are the teeth of a lion, killing the souls 
of men. All iniquity is like a two-edged sword; there 
is no remedy for the wound thereof.” 6 What, then, 
is this terrible evil about which God speaks so clearly, 
against which He so paternally warns, and which He 
punishes so fearfully? In answer, I say it is mortal 
sin. Listen to what Cardinal Newman says so 
eloquently on this point: “Evil, says the world, is 
whatever is an offense to me, whatever obscures my 
majesty, whatever disturbs my peace. Order, tran¬ 
quillity, popular contentment, plenty, prosperity, 
advance in arts and sciences, literature, refinement, 
splendor—this is my millenium, or rather my elysium, 
my swerga; I acknowledge no whole, no individuality 

3 Rom. vi. 23. 5 Job xi. 20. 

4 Conf. Book I. Chap. 1. 6 Ecclus. xxi. 1-4. 






46 


ON SIN 


but my own; the units which compose me are but 
parts of me; they have no perfection in themselves; 
no end but in me; in my glory is their bliss, and in 
the hidings of my countenance they come to naught.” 7 
Such is the idea of evil that the world has, that world 
which is hurrying onwards to destruction. Is your 
idea of sin the same as that of the world? If it is, 
then indeed you need very much the grace of God 
and a renewal of His spirit in your heart. No won¬ 
der our divine Saviour said: “My kingdom is not 
of this world,” 8 because the maxims of the world 
on the evil of sin are altogether opposed to the law 
of God. “Now the Church looks and moves in a 
simply opposite direction. It contemplates, not the 
whole, but the parts; not a nation, but the men who 
form it; not society in the first place, but in the second 
place, and in the first place individuals; it looks be¬ 
yond the outward act, on and into the thought, the 
motive, the intention, and the will; it looks beyond 
the world, and detects and moves against the devil, 
who is sitting in ambush behind it. The world-wide 
Church, like the divine Author, regards, consults for, 
labors for, the individual soul; she looks at the souls 
for whom Christ died, and who are made over to her; 
and her one object, for which everything else is 
sacrificed—appearances, reputation, worldly triumph 
—is to acquit herself well of this most awful re¬ 
sponsibility. Her one duty is to bring forward the 
elect to salvation, and to make them as many as she 
can:—to take the offenses out of their path, to warn 
them of sin, rescue them from evil, to convert them, 
to teach them, to feed them, to protect them, and to 
perfect them. She overlooks everything in compari¬ 
son of the immortal soul. Good and evil to her are 
not lights and shadows passing over the surface of 

7 Newman, “Difficulties of 8 John xviii. 36. 

Anglicans.” page 206. 


ON SIN 


4 7 


society, but living powers, springing from the depths 
of the heart. Actions, in her sight, are not mere out¬ 
ward deeds and words committed by hand or tongue, 
and manifested in effects over a range of influence, 
wider or narrower, as the case may be; but they are 
the thoughts, the desires, the purposes, of the soli¬ 
tary responsible spirit/' 9 

Again, I ask, what is this terrible evil, against which 
the Church is working so hard and so steadily, for 
the destruction of which she is waging war against 
the world? What is this monster against whose 
attacks God warns us? It cannot be too forcibly an¬ 
swered : It is sin. And what is sin ? Let me an¬ 
swer with the words of St. Augustine: “Sin is any 
transgression in deed, or word, or desire, of the eternal 
law. And the eternal law is the divine order or will 
of God, which requires the preservation of natural 
order, and forbids the breach of it.” 10 Here we 
are told in a few words by this great doctor of the 
Church, what sin is. You will remember that this 
is true of all sin, but especially true of mortal sin. 
Now, it is the latter—mortal sin—that we are con¬ 
sidering; and so that you may have a clear under¬ 
standing of what goes to make a mortal sin, I ask 
you to give your greatest attention to what I am 
about to say, and to always bear it in mind. Remem¬ 
ber above all that God condemns no one unjustly; 
no one can possibly commit sin unless he knows more 
or less clearly what he is doing. It is utterly im¬ 
possible that the same Christ who said: “Come to 
Me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will 
refresh you” 11 will take any man and condemn him for 
what may be called an accident, or for that of which 
he knows nothing. Oh, no! far be such a thought 

9 Newman, “Anglican Dif- 10 “Manichaean H e r e s y,” 

Acuities,” page 206. Book XXII., part 27. 

11 Matt. xi. 28. 











4 8 


ON SIN 


that would lead us to say that the infinitely merciful 
God punished unjustly and without sufficient reason. 
“Take up My yoke upon you,” He said, “and learn 
of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart, and 
you shall find rest to your souls. For My yoke is 
sweet and My burden is light.” 12 It is, then, most 
important to remember that three things are nec¬ 
essary to make mortal sin: First, a grave and im¬ 
portant law must be broken; second, this must be 
done with full deliberation; third, it must be con¬ 
sented to with the whole will. If these three qualities 
are absent, or even if one of them is wanting, then 
nobody can say that a sin is mortal. In other words, 
the law must bind gravely; the knowledge of what 
one is doing must be present, and then the will must 
consent. How then can it be possible that a man is 
taken off his guard, as it were, when he sins? All 
sin, whatever it may be, is first a sin of thought, 
that is, the person sinning must first think of what 
he is about to do. “For,” as St. Augustine says, 
“there are three things which go to complete sin: 
the suggestion of it, the taking pleasure in it, and the 
consenting to it. But if consent shall take place the 
sin will be complete, known to God in our heart, al¬ 
though it may not become known to men by deed.” 13 
And a greater than St. Augustine, our divine Lord 
and Saviour, says: “You have heard that it was 
said to them of old, thou shalt not commit adultery. 
But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a 
woman to lust after her, hath already committed 
adultery with her in his heart.” 14 From this you 
can see that before God a man may deliberately, 
with eyes closed, his arms folded, even without the 
movement of a muscle, cast himself into hell, or the 
danger of it, by his internal consent to mortal sin. 

12 Matt. xi. 29, 30. Mount,” Book I. 34. 

13 “The Sermon on the 14 Matt. v. 27, 28. 











ON SIN 


49 


However, it is not so easy, as some scrupulous per¬ 
sons imagine, to mortally offend God; it is, if I may 
use the expression, a rather difficult matter to cut 
oneself off from the charity or love of God, unless 
one freely and willingly intends to do so. Listen 
to the great authority of St. Augustine on this very 
subject: “A man who acts in obedience to the faith 
which obeys God restrains all mortal affections and 
keeps them within the natural limit, regulating his 
desires so as to put the higher before the lower. If 
there were no pleasures in what is unlawful, no one 
would sin. To sin is to indulge this pleasure instead 
of restraining it.” 15 Let me then sum up this part 
of my sermon, because it is so important, by saying 
that you cannot possibly commit mortal sin unless 
you know what you are doing. “Who is he that shall 
condemn?” cries out St. Paul; and then he answers: 
“Christ Jesus that died, yea that is risen also again; 
who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh 
intercession for us.” And again he asks the further 
question: “Who then shall separate us from the love 
of Christ.” 16 You all know the answer; only the 
devil can separate us from the love of Christ by get¬ 
ting us to commit mortal sin. Can you then imagine 
infinite Love, and infinite Justice condemning any one 
who does not justly deserve it? This brings us to 
consider now, as far as our limited intelligence will 
permit, the nature of sin. We have said that it is 
the supreme evil, both by its influence in this world 
and its consequences in eternity. We are surrounded 
by it on all sides, for it is the commonest thing in 
the world. We become so familiar with it that it 
seems to lose its nature and its malice by reason of 
its very nearness. We know it only in its passing 
phases and acts, but not in the permanent state of 

is “Manichaean H e r e s y ” 16 Rom. viii. 34 35 - 

Book XXII. par. 27. 


ON SIN 


5 ° 

the soul set up by its commission, not to speak of its 
remoter consequences. We are not conscious of any 
direct attack on God by it, but only as a desire for 
some sensible pleasure or advantage, which generally 
presents itself in some familiar form, as an amiable 
weakness, an excusable appetite, or even under the 
cloak of a virtue. There is one thing which we call 
upon you to bear very much in mind, and that is, 
that the mortal sin which one commits may indeed 
be a passing, transitory act, but nevertheless that act 
sets up a chronic condition in the soul. Many a man 
has died from pneumonia caught in a moment; many 
a chronic disease has resulted from a short ex¬ 
posure to cold or inclement weather. Oh, no! judge 
not from the passing act; judge rather from the re¬ 
sulting disease to the soul; the loss of its health and 
strength and vitality and maybe, in the end, eternal 
death—the loss of God forever. This privation of 
God even in this life remains after the act is over 
and done, for just as a drowned man, when taken 
out of the water, does not regain life, so neither does 
life come back to the soul after the act is done. No 
power on earth can bring back life to the drowned 
man; no merely human power can bring back life 
to the dead soul. Alas! how quickly and surely can 
one bring on one’s own destruction, and how utterly 
helpless in reversing the fatal act! “Know you not,” 
says St. Paul, “that to whom you yield yourselves 
servants to obey, his servants you are whom you obey, 
whether it be of sin unto death, or of obedience unto 
justice.” 17 And St. John says, quoting the words 
of his divine Master: “Amen, amen I say unto you, 
that whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” 18 
And St. Peter says: “By whom a man is overcome, 
of the same also is he the slave.” 19 Mortal sin is 

17 Rom. vi. 16. 19 II. Pet. ii. 19. 

18 John viii. 34. 





fundamentally a want df harmony with God; in other 
words, it is an actual state of rebellion against Him. 
God, speaking by the mouth of Moses, says: “Thou 
shalt fear the Lord thy God, and shalt serve Him 
only,” 20 and the sinner, using practically the words 
of Lucifer, says: “I will ascend into heaven; I will 
exalt my throne above the stars; and I will sit in the 
mountain of the covenant, in the sides of the north. 
I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will 
be like the Most High.” 21 For what is sin but pride? 

■What is sin but rebellion, and against the kindliest of 
Fathers? The sinner is disobedient, and disobedience 
springs from pride, the root of all sin; therefore, as 
far as he can, he is like Lucifer, the proudest devil 
in hell, and the greatest hater of God. All mortal sin 
is fundamentally the same; every mortal sin is an 
outrage against God, though some are more heinous 
than others, but all cast God out of the soul and de¬ 
stroy its life. For the life of the soul, it cannot be 
insisted on too much, is God. St. Augustine says: 
“God is to thee all in one; if thou hungerest, He is 
bread to thee; if thou thirstest, He is water; if thou 
art in darkness, He is light to thee, because He re- 
maineth incapable of wasting away; if thou art naked, 
He is a garment of immortality for thee, when this 
corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this 
mortal shall have put on immortality.” 22 And St. 


John says: “God hath given to us eternal life. And 
this life is in His Son.” 23 

One mortal sin casts God out of the soul, and incurs 
the punishment of hell as effectively as a thousand 
mortal sins, for St. James says: “Whosoever shall 
keep the whole law, but offend in one point, is guilty 
of all .” 24 Wickedness in one respect will not be 


20 Dent. vi. 13. John, Tract. 13. No. 5. 

21 Is. xiv. 13, 14 - 23 T * John v. II. 

22 On the Gospel of St. 24 James 11. 10. 






52 


ON SIN 


condoned by goodness in another, for there are nc 
so-called redeeming qualities where there is one mortal 
sin. The seat of sin is the will. When the intellect 
is not perfectly enlightened, and the will does not give 
its full consent, there cannot be, as I have already 
said, a mortal sin. Concupiscence, temptations, ex¬ 
citements are not sins; all men are subject to these; 
it is only by a deliberate act of the will that sin comes 
into the soul. It is very easy for some to sin, because 
this tendency is brought about in them by repeatedly 
yielding to temptation, and these acts of the will bring 
on a second nature. Jeremias the prophet, using the 
words of God, says to the habitual sinner: “I have 
wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with a 
cruel chastisement; by the reason of the multitude of 
thy iniquities, thy sins are hardened.” 25 And again 
it is said in the Book of Ecclesiasticus: “Do no evils, 
and no evils shall hold thee. Depart from the un¬ 
just, and evils shall depart from thee. My son, sow 
not evils in the furrow of injustice, and thou shalt 
not reap them sevenfold.” 26 You can easily see from 
these inspired words what a terrible state a man must 
be in who is accustomed by habit to sin; he simply 
does not care, and drinks in iniquity like a drowning 
man drinks in water. God, speaking by Malachy the 
prophet, thus argues with the contemptuous, habitual 
sinner: “Your words have been insufferable to Me, 
saith the Lord. And you have said: What have wej 
spoken against Thee? You have said: He lahoreth 
in vain that serveth God, and what profit is it that 
we have kept His ordinances, and that we have walked 
sorrowfully before the Lord of hosts ?” 27 And, if 
not in words, at least in acts, he uses the words found 
in the Book of Job, asking these questions: “Who is 
the Almighty, that we should serve Llim? And what 

2 ' 5 Jer. xxx. 14. 27 Mai. iii. 13, 14. 

26 Ecclus. vii. 1, 3. 



ON SIN 


53 


doth it profit us if we pray to Him ?” 28 We have a 
notable example of this in the life of Mary Magdalen, 
who revelled in lust, and rolled from one sin to an¬ 
other, like an animal in the mud, until a miracle of 
God’s grace converted her. Are you any better than 
she was? Are you any stronger? Are you waiting 
for a miracle in your case? If you are, you are very 
foolish, for God does not promise this, especially to 
the presumptuous man. God has promised His grace, 
but we must sincerely ask for it; indeed, He must 
make the first advance and give us the first grace. We 
are wholly incapable of helping ourselves in this matter, 
for Christ says: “Without Me you can do noth¬ 
ing,” 29 and St. Augustine says: “They who are 
so high-minded as to think fit to attribute so 
much to the strength of their own will that they 
deny their need of the divine aid in order to 
good living, cannot believe in Christ.” 30 It can¬ 
not be too often repeated: sin is rebellion against 
God; the creature is in open revolt against the 
Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier. God 
does not need any one of us; out of His own bounty 
and liberality He created us, and intended us to be 
happy with Himself forever. He gave us a soul cap¬ 
able of knowing and loving Him, and says to each 
of us : “I have loved thee with an everlasting love.” 31 
And St. Paul says that the Father hath chosen us in 
His Son, “before the foundation of the world, that 
we should be holy and unspotted in His sight in 
charity.” 32 God has rights over His creatures such 
as no earthly sovereign, no earthly father, no human 
laws ever could possess. We belong to Him in a more 
absolute sense than can be taken from any illustration 
drawn from human life: “Know ye that the Lord 

28 Job xxi. 15. 31 Jer. xxxi. 3. 

29 John xv. 5. 32 Eph. i. 4. 

30 On the Gospel of St. John, 

Tract. 53, No. 10. 




54 


ON SIN 


He is God: He made us and not we ourselves.” 33 
We meet Him everywhere, and He Himself cannot 
forego His rights over us; He need not have created 
us, but having done so, we necessarily become His 
creatures. The Psalmist, knowing all this, cries out 
to God: “Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? Or 
whither shall I flee from Thy face? If I ascend into 
heaven, Thou art there; if I descend into hell, Thou 
art present; if I take my wings early in the morning 
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there 
also shall Thy hand lead me; and Thy right hand 
shall hold me. And I said: Perhaps darkness shall 
cover me, and night shall be my light in my pleasures. 
But darkness shall not be dark to Thee, and night shall 
be light as the day: the darkness thereof, and the 
light thereof are alike to Thee.” 34 Nothing can sus¬ 
pend the claim of God over us and over everything 
we can possibly hold or own. “What hast thou,” 
says St. Paul, “that thou hast not received? And if 
thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou 
hadst not received it?” 35 In the face of all this, 
mortal sin is truly a rebellion of the most frightful 
kind, and ingratitude of the blackest dye. For if we 
stop to consider even for a moment what we are and 
what God is to us, we must surely wonder why we 
ever allowed sin to enter our souls. When sin entered, 
we changed our allegiance from God to the devil; we 
deserted the standard of God for that of His enemy; 
we bartered the eternal happiness offered us by God 
for the false fleeting pleasures offered us by satan: 
“Be astonished, O ye heavens,” says God, by jeremias 
the prophet, “at this, and ye gates thereof, be very 
desolate, saith the Lord, for My people have done two 
evils. They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living* 
water, and have digged to themselves cisterns, broken 

33 Ps. xcix. 3. 35 I. Cor. iv. 7. 

34 Ps. cxxxviii. 7-12. 

• .< 0 . . 





ON SIN 


55 


cisterns, that can hold no water.” 36 And the real 
and ultimate source of all this is in ourselves, for 
every sin comes from our own intelligence and will. 
Every sin committed leaves its own scar, unless a 
supernatural healing by sorrow and repentance effaces 
it. For one sin brings on another and the last is 
more easily committed than the one before it, until 
habit becomes a second nature and a frightful source 
of further sin and of ultimate damnation. “Where¬ 
fore,” says St. John Chrysostom, “it is necessary for us 
to resist the beginnings. For at any rate, even if the 
first sins stopped themselves, not even so were it right 
to despise the first sins; but now they go also to what 
is greater, when the mind is careless. Wherefore we 
ought to do all things to remove the beginnings of 
them.” 37 If you choose to act right, you have the 
assistance of God, for “it is God who worketh in you 
both to will and accomplish, according to His good 
will.” 38 The world is not the cause of your sin, you 
can never say that you were forced into sinning, or 
that God abandons you; the devil is not the cause of 
your sin, for he can only tempt you. They furnish 
only the occasion, but do not make you fall. They 
give material for struggle and final victory should you 
overcome them; but if you do not, you have only 
yourselves to blame: “destruction is thine own, O 
Israel: thy help is only in Me.” 39 The world in¬ 
deed may tempt you and hold out to you its allure¬ 
ments and its pleasures, but God calls you the other 
way, and that way you must go if you wish to go to 
heaven. St. Augustine beautifully says: “We call 
them the world who, because they love the world, are 
the world’s inmates. Who are these? They whose 
affections are set upon the world. For these in their 

36 Jer. ii. 12, 13. 38 Phil. ii. 13. 

37 On St. Matt. Serm. 86; 39 Osee xni. 9. 

No. 3* 


56 


ON SIN 


heart dwell in the world.” 40 Be not of those who sell 
their soul for the miserable price this world gives for 
it; be not worldly, aping the follies and frivolities of 
its votaries, and it will have no power over you for 
sin. Neither can the devil compel you to sin, for he 
can do nothing unless you put yourselves in his power. 
For St. Augustine again says: “But some one may 
say: If he is bound, how is it he yet can be power¬ 
ful? It is true, my dear brethren, that he has much 
power; but he has it over the tepid and the negligent 
and those who do not fear God in truth. He is bound 
as a chained dog and can bite no one, unless that one 
should come to him in death bearing security. You 
now see, brethren, what a fool that man is, whom a 
chained dog bites. Do not come near him by your 
will and lustful, worldly desires, and he will not pre¬ 
sume to approach to you. He can bark, he can solicit; 
but he cannot bite, unless one is willing. For he does 
not hurt by forcing you, but by persuading you; nor 
does he drag a consent from us, but he asks it.” 41 
He has lost his power over man since he was con¬ 
quered by the death of our blessed Lord. “And the 
devil now assaults from without, not conquers him 
that hath possession within,” again says St. Augustine; 
“and he assaults from without by casting in various 
temptations; but that person consents not thereto, to 
whom God speaks within.” 42 

The concupiscence we inherit from Adam can do 
us no harm, for we ourselves are the only ones who 
can hurt ourselves; the whole world, all the powers 
of hell cannot touch us; we ourselves, with the grace 
of God, can be the authors of our own salvation, or 
of our damnation, by not corresponding with that grace. 
“God made man from the beginning, and left him 

40 On the Gospel of St. John, 42 On the Gospel of St. John, 

Tract. 2, No. n. Tract. 54, No. 1. 

41 Sermon 197. 




ON SIN 57 

in the hand of his own counsel/’ says the Book of 
Ecclesiasticus.” 43 And truly could Tobias say, 
“They that commit sin and iniquity are enemies to 
the soul. ” 44 Let me be fully understood when I tell 
you that you can blame no one but your own selves 
if you commit sin; no one forces you—God gave you 
free will, and He respects that gift so much that even 
He Himself will not interfere with it. It is perfectly 
true that He entices the free will to do what is right 
by the force of His love and by His grace, but the 
sinner can spurn that love and reject that grace, and 
God then will not otherwise force Him. Our divine 
Saviour established His Church to be the guide of all 
men, saints as well as sinners. He left the Sacra¬ 
ments as so many channels to bring His grace and 
assistance to each and to all. He has promised heaven 
to the good and the repentant, and threatened hell to 
the bad and the rebellious. He Himself says: “If 
it seem evil to you to serve the Lord, you have your 
choice; choose this day that which pleaseth you, whom 
you would rather serve”; 45 that is, whether you would 
rather serve under the banner of Him who says, “My 
yoke is sweet and My burden light,” 40 or be under 
the standard of him whose servants are slaves; so 
that you are either free “by the freedom wherewith 
Christ hath made us free” 47 or you are slaves under 
the slavery of the devil. Beware then of sin; it is 
the only and most terrible evil that can befall you. 

On one side is Calvary and on the other side is hell. 
One represents the infinite mercy and love of God, who 
died for the salvation of each and of all; the other 
shows forth the infinite justice of an outraged and 
angry God. No one, bear it well in mind, will go to 
hell who does not well deserve it; Jesus our Saviour 


43 Ecclus. xv. 14. 

44 Tob. xii. 10. 

45 Josue xxiv. 15. 


46 Matt. xi. 30. 

47 Gal. iv. 31. 



58 


ON SIN 


did not die that men might be damned, but that men 
might be saved. “Sin filled heaven with mourning, 
hell with lamentations, and the earth with calamities. 
It was sin which brought sickness, pestilence, famine, 
and death into the world. It was sin which caused 
the destruction of the most renowned and populous 
cities. It caused the downfall of Babylon and her 
splendid gardens, of Ninive the proud, of Persepolis, 
the daughter of the Sun, of Memphis, the seat of the 
most profound mysteries, of Sodom the impure, of 
Athens the witty, of Jerusalem the unfaithful, and of 
Rome the magnificent, for if God ordained the de¬ 
struction of all these cities He only did so as a punish¬ 
ment and a remedy for sin. Sin has caused all the 
sighs that have agitated human breasts, and all the 
tears that have fallen, drop by drop, from the eyes 
of men, and, what is much more than all, and beyond 
imagination to conceive or words to express, it has 
caused tears to flow from the most sacred eyes of the 
Son of God, the meek Lamb who suffered on the cross 
for the sins of the world. Neither men, nor the earth, 
nor the heavens ever saw Him laugh; but man, the 
earth, and the heavens saw Him weep. And He wept 
at the contemplation of sin. He wept over the grave 
of Lazarus, but He only bewailed, in the death of His 
friend, the loss of the soul through sin. He wept 
over Jerusalem, but He wept for the abominable sins 
of a people who could commit a deicide. He was 
sad and agitated in the garden, but it was horror of 
sin which there filled His soul with anguish, so that 
His brow sweat blood at the dreadful spectacle. He 
was crucified, but it was sin which nailed Him to the 
cross, and caused Him to expire there in bitter 
agony.” 48 O merciful Jesus! who didst die to save 
us, give us an abiding horror of sin. Grant us sorrow 
48 Cortes, “Essay on Catholicism,” chap. 6. 


ON SIN 


59 


for our past sins; help us to avoid all sin for the future, 
so that at death our souls may be purified and fitted 
to live with Thee and the Father and Holy Ghost for¬ 
ever. Amen. 




ON SORROW FOR SIN 


“Now, therefore, saith the Lord; Be converted to 
Me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and 
in mourning. And rend your hearts, and not your 
garments, and turn to the Lord your God: for He 
is gracious and merciful, patient, and rich in mercy, 
and ready to repent of the evil.” (Joel ii. 12, 13.) 

synopsis 

The virtue of penance summed up by our Lord. Proof of the 
Sacrament.—A matter of faith.—Power vested in the priesthood. 
—May be made useless by man.—What is the grace of a mission? 
—Will be no good unless resolutions are kept up.—What must be 
done to make a good confession?—Contrition, confession, satis¬ 
faction.—Contrition is necessary.—Defined by the Council of 
Trent.—Meaning of the word contrition.—What is sin?—David’s 
sorrow for sin.—Definition of perfect contrition by the Council 
of Trent.—Perfect contrition removes sin immediately.—No love 
like God’s.—God loves us first.—Remission of sin without con¬ 
fession.—Obligation of subsequent confession of sin.—Lower 
kind of sorrow: attrition.—All mortal sins must be hated.—Fear 
of the slave.—Be glad if you have attrition. Strive for con¬ 
trition.—Resolution to avoid sin for the future.—Vague promises 
will not do.—We can never make too much satisfaction.—* 
Sorrow of the great penitents.—Satisfaction must not be me¬ 
chanical.—How to confess sins.—Wonderful love of God.— 
Prayer for forgiveness. 

My dear Brethren : In our last sermon we showed 
you the evil of all kinds of sin and especially the 
enormity of mortal sin, and we asked God to grant us 
sorrow for our past sins. The virtue of penance is 
absolutely necessary for all, and no one who has ever 
sinned can possibly be restored to God’s grace and 

friendship without it. In the case of repentance 

60 


ON SORROW FOR SIN 


6l 


in general—or in other words, of the virtue of 
penance, as distinct from the Sacrament—the whole 
teaching may be summed up in the words of our 
blessed Lord when, speaking to those who had told 
Him of the fall of a tower by which eighteen per¬ 
sons were killed, He turned the event to call their 
attention to the necessity of penance: “Except you 
clo penance, you shall all likewise perish.” 1 

As regards the Sacrament of Penance, we have the 
full proof of its institution in the words of our divine 
Saviour, as given by St. Matthew : “Whatsoever thou 
shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven; 
and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall 
be loosed also in heaven”; 2 and in the words of the 
same Saviour, as quoted by St. John: “Whose sins 
you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose 
sins you shall retain, they are retained.” 3 

It is thus a matter of divine faith that there is in 
the Church the power of forgiving sin. This power 
is vested in the priesthood, and is exercised in the 
name and by the authority of Christ. But unlimited 
as is this power in itself, it can be made wholly use¬ 
less by the perverse will of man. Great and far-reach¬ 
ing as is the mercy of God, His designs can be frus¬ 
trated in the individual by malice, or sinfulness. In 
a word, God’s willingness to pardon may be rejected 
by man, and no power in the Church, yea, no power 
in heaven can, or rather will, force an unwilling sinner 
to repentance. God Himself could not do the con¬ 
tradictory thing of pardoning a man who persisted 
in being at enmity with Him. 

Those, then, who will not repent, notwithstanding 
all that has been clone for them by God; those who will 
continue in evil habits of lust, of drunkenness, of ex¬ 
tortion, of robbery, of oppression of the poor; those 

1 Luke xiii. 5 - 3 J ohn xx - 2 3 * 

2 Matt. xvi. 19 - 


62 


ON SORROW FOR SIN 


who live on as worldlings, and as it were “choked with 
the cares, riches, and pleasures of this life”; 4 those 
who use the cloak of hypocrisy, and the unction of 
the Pharisee, to cover their misdeeds and smooth the 
rough ways of life, are as worthy to have the same 
malediction of Christ now as of old, when He said 
to the same class of persons: “Woe to you Scribes 
and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you are like to 
whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear to men 
beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s bones, 
and of all filthiness. So you also outwardly indeed 
appear to men just; but inwardly you are full of 
hypocrisy and iniquity.” 5 Who among you would 
be willing to have these terrible words of the gentle 
Saviour of mankind pronounced against himself? 

And yet, they will be perfectly true of any one 
who, under false excuses or lying pleas, strives to 
drive from his soul the grace of God which is offered 
in this mission. 

What is said in the inspired Book of Proverbs can 
be applied to all those who squander the grace of 
God, and especially that grace which is offered on ex¬ 
traordinary occasions, as at the time of a mission: 
“Because I called, and you refused: :I stretched out 
My hand, and there was none that regarded. You 
have despised My counsel, and have neglected my re¬ 
prehensions. I also will laugh in your destruction, 
and will mock when that shall come upon you which 
you feared.” 6 

Oh! the great grace of a mission is the abandon¬ 
ment of sin, the detestation of it, the resolution of 
committing it no more, and the consequent charity or 
love of God. 

Listen to what St. Augustine expresses so very 
beautifully: “Thou doest the truth, and contest to 

4 Luke viii. 14. 6 Prov. i. 25, 26. 

5 Matt, xxiii. 27, 28. 


ON SORROW FOR SIN 63 

the light. How is it thou doest the truth? Thou 
dost not caress, nor soothe, nor flatter thyself; nor 
say, T am righteous/ whilst thou art unrighteous; 
thus thou beginnest to do the truth. Thou comest to 
see the right, that thy works may be made manifest 
that they are wrought in God; for thy sin, the very 
thing that has given thee displeasure, would not have 
displeased thee, if God did not shine into thee, and 
His truth show it thee. But he that loves his sins, 
even after being admonished, hates the light ad¬ 
monishing him, and flees from it, that his works which 
he loves may not be proved to be evil. But he that 
doth truth accuses his evil works in himself, spares 
not himself, forgives not himself, that God may for¬ 
give him; for that which he desires God to forgive, 
he himself acknowledges, and he comes to the light; 
to which he is thankful for showing him what he 
should hate in himself.” 7 The great grace offered 
by God in a mission can and should be estimated by 
the influence it exerts on our after-life. “My son,” 
says the Book of Proverbs, “forget not My law, and 
let thy heart keep My commandments. For they shall 
add to thee length of days, and years of life and peace. 
Let not mercy and truth leave thee; put them about 
thy neck, and write them in the tablets of thy heart: 
And thou shalt find grace and good understanding 
before God and men.” 8 

It is very good and meritorious to be fervent at the 
time of a mission, but all the fervor which you may 
now show forth will amount to nothing and will vanish 
like smoke before a gale, if you do not strongly re¬ 
solve, with God’s grace and help to put into practice 
the resolutions you are called upon to make now, at this 
holy and favorable time. It will not do to make this 
mission and then fall back into perhaps a worse man- 

7 On St. John’s Gospel, 

Tract. 12, No. 13. 


8 Prov. iii. 1-3. 



64 


ON SORROW FOR SIN 




ner of living than before; for remember that oui 
Saviour says: “No man putting his hand to th( 
plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom ol 
God.” 9 St. John Chrysostom says: “It is fearful 
it is fearful to give place to these wicked passions 
Wherefore it were fit in every way to ward off and 
repel their entering in. For when they have laid hold 
of the soul, and got the dominion over it, like as fire 
lighting upon wood, so do they kindle the flame tc 
a blaze. Wherefore I entreat you to do all so as tc 
fence off their entrance; and not by comforting your¬ 
selves with this heartless reasoning to bring in upon 
yourselves all wickedness, saying, what of this? what 
of that? For countless ills have their birth from hence. 
For the devil, being depraved, makes use of such craft 
and exertion and self-abasement for the ruin of men, 
and begins his attack on them with things of a more 
trifling nature.” 10 

Therefore, in the words of St. Paul, you should 
look “unto the hope of life everlasting, which God, 
who lieth not, hath promised before the times of the 
world.” 11 Our life may be compared to a field over 
which the ploughman guides the harrow to break up 
the clods of earth and make it fit for the reception of 
the seed after the winter season; and man does his 
work with the hope of the autumn crops, so “he that 
plougheth, should plough in hope,” as again says St. 
Paul; 12 we should work, not indeed for the autumn 
of the present life, but for the reward of life everlast- 
ing. 

It is without doubt very excellent for the preacher 
to exhort all, especially at the time of a mission, to 
approach the Sacrament of Penance, to prove its insti¬ 
tution by Christ, its necessity, and its many advantages, 

9 Luke ix. 62. 11 Tit. i. 2. 

10 St. John Chrysostom, Ser- 12 I. Cor. ix. 10. 

mon 86, No. 3, on Matt. 








ON SORROW FOR SIN 


65 


as we have already tried to do. But now we have to 
explain the practical side of the case, namely, what 
is necessary to make a good confession; what you 
must do to make your confession meritorious before 
God and efficacious for eternal life. 

Your eternal salvation depends upon the kind of 
life you lead here, and this manner of living is influ¬ 
enced by the confessions you make. There is not the 
slightest doubt that good confessions have a wonder¬ 
ful effect, not only on society in general, but upon the 
individual in particular; for in the confessional is 
made the particular, intimate, and practical application 
of God’s law to each soul. It means the complete 
efifacement of sin; it means the change of a sinner to 
a saint; it turns the rebel into a loyal subject; it brings 
order out of chaos; it makes the slave of the devil the 
free adopted son of God; it raises the dead in sin to 
life. Here in the words of St. Augustine is the sum¬ 
ming up of what I have just said: “Now he that 
confesses his sins, and accuses his sins, works thence¬ 
forth with God. God accuses thy sins; if thou ac- 
cusest too, thou art joined to God. They are, as it 
were, two things: man and sinner. That thou art 
called man, was God’s doing; that'thou art called a 
sinner, was man’s own doing. Abolish what was thy 
doing, that God may save what was His doing. It 
behooveth that thou hate in thee thine own work and 
love the work of God in thee. Now, when that which 
was thy doing shall begin to be displeasing to thee, 
at that point thy good works begin, in that thou ac- 
cusest thine evil works. The beginning of good works 
is, the confession of evil works.” 13 

What, then, are the principal qualities of this won¬ 
der-working gift of God? I answer: contrition, con¬ 
fession and satisfaction. 

The most necessary part of the Sacrament is con- 

13 On St. John’s Gospel, Tract. 12, No. 13. 





66 


ON SORROW FOR SIN 


trition; without it no sin, venial or mortal, will be 
forgiven by Almighty God. It has been defined by 
the Council of Trent: “A sorrow and detestation of 
past sin, with a purpose of sinning no more”; and the 
same Council says that “if joined with confidence in 
the mercy of God, and an earnest desire of performing 
whatever is necessary for the proper reception of the 
Sacrament, it thus, at length, prepares us for the re¬ 
mission of sin.” 14 

The word contrition comes from the Latin word 
conterere, which means a breaking, and it is used here 
in a figurative sense to signify the breaking or bruis¬ 
ing of the heart, hardened by pride and rebellion, and 
preparing it for the seed of God’s grace, as the ground 
is prepared by the harrow for the earthly grain. 

“Penance,” says St. John Chrysostom, “induces the 
sinner cheerfully to undergo every rigor; his heart 
is pierced with contrition; his lips utter the confession 
of his guilt; and his actions breathe humility, and are 
accepted by God as a satisfaction.” 15 

Sin is the greatest evil in the world; no calamity, 
no plague, no trial, no trouble in any way approaches 
it. All other evils are passing, and are generally the 
outcome of sin. Sin is a deliberate offense of the 
creature against the Creator, and if it is mortal is 
liable to bring on eternal death if not repented of in 
time. Temporal death, which after all is said is only 
a separation of the soul from the body for a time, 
has no comparison with the eternal separation of the 
soul from God. “Fear ye not them,” says our Saviour, 
“that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul; 
but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and 
body in hell.” 16 

Listen to St. Augustine on this very point; he says: 
“Every one who sins dies. But the death of the flesh 

14 Session 14. “Catechism of 115 Sermon n. 
the Council of Trent,” page 190. 16 Matt. x. 28. 






ON SORROW FOR SIN 


67 


every man fears, few the death of the soul. Though 
the death of the flesh without doubt must come at last, 
all men have a care that it may not come; this it is 
that they take pains for. Man, destined to die, takes 
pains that he may not die, and yet man destined to 
live forever, takes no pains that he may not sin. And 
when he takes pains that he may not die, he takes 
them to no purpose; for his aim is, that death may 
be for a long while deferred, not that it may be escaped 
from; whereas, if he refuse to sin, he will have no 
pains, and will live forever. Oh! that we could rouse 
men, and with them be alike aroused, to be such lovers 
of the life that abideth, as men are of the life that fleet- 
eth.” 17 In another sermon he says: “The spirit of 
Christian charity lives not within you, if you lament 
the body from which the soul has departed, but la¬ 
ment not the soul from which God has departed.” 18 

It is absolutely necessary that you have sorrow for 
sin committed, for without it no one who has sinned 
can be saved. It must come from the will, or the heart, 
and must embrace a hatred of sin and a firm resolu¬ 
tion not to commit it any more. This is the sorrow 
that David the penitent King of Israel had when .he 
cried out to God: “I have sworn and am determined 
to keep the judgments of Thy justice. I have inclined 
my heart to do Thy justifications forever, for the re¬ 
ward. Therefore was I directed to all Thy command¬ 
ments ; I have hated all wicked ways. I have hated 
and abhorred iniquity; but I have loved Thy law.” 19 

It is perfectly useless to seek absolution, or to ex¬ 
pect that God will forgive sin, if this sorrow and these 
resolutions are not in the will. According to the 
Catechism of the Council of Trent: “Perfect con¬ 
trition is an act of charity, emanating from what is 

17 On St. John’s Gospel, 19 Ps. cxviii. 106, 112, 128, 
Tract. 49, No. 2. # 163. 

is Sermon 41, On the Saints. 


68 


ON SORROW FOR SIN 


called filial fear; the measure of contrition and charity 
should therefore, it is obvious, be the same; but the 
charity which we cherish towards God is the most 
perfect love; and, therefore, the sorrow which con¬ 
trition inspires should also be the most perfect. God 
is to be loved above all things, and whatever separates 
us from God is, therefore, to be hated above all 
things.” 20 

This charity or love of God embraced in perfect 
contrition, or sorrow for sin, immediately removes sin 
from the soul. For as light and darkness cannot be 
in the same place at the same time, so sin and charity 
cannot coexist at the same time in the soul. Of course, 
it goes without saying that the intention of confessing 
must be there also. So that from this teaching no man 
need remain for one day, nay, even for one hour, in 
the state of sin, even if he cannot confess. But I 
would not have you think that you should therefore 
delay for an indefinite time the actual confession of 
sin, for if you really have the love of God, you will 
at the first opportunity that presents itself submit your 
sins to the priest, and to the power of the keys in the 
Church of God. From this it is clear that when we 
cannot confess our sins to a priest and receive absolu¬ 
tion in the usual way, we need not despair of forgive¬ 
ness, but should humbly beseech God to grant us the 
grace of perfect contrition, and should endeavor to 
repent of our sins not merely on account of spiritual 
loss which they cause to us, but precisely because they 
offend God; and He who wills not the death of the 
sinner but rather that he be converted and live, is able 
to grant us the grace of perfect contrition and restore 
us to His friendship and love. 

I cannot do any better than to quote for you a 
beautiful passage from Father Faber on the abiding 

20 “Catechism of the Council of Trent,” page 186. 







ON SORROW FOR SIN 


69 


sorrow for sin. “When we come to look at ourselves, 
whether it be the rare few who have preserved their 
baptismal innocence and whose souls are only charged 
with venial sins, or the great Apostles, unrivalled 
among the saints, confirmed in grace, and whose grace 
was superabundant, or the mass of men whose best 
estate is that of repentant and returning sinners, we 
shall see that no sorrow is possible to us which shall 
unite these four characteristics except the abiding sor¬ 
row for sin. It is as much life-long with us as any¬ 
thing qan be. It is a prominent part of our first 
turning to God, and there is no height of holiness in 
which it will leave us. It is the interior representa¬ 
tion of our guardian angel in our souls, and the dis¬ 
position and demeanor he would fain should be con¬ 
stant and persevering in us. It is quiet; indeed, it 
rather tranquillizes a troubled soul than perturbs a 
contented one. It hushes the noises of the world, and 
rebukes the loquacity of the human spirit. It 
softens asperities, subdues exaggerations, and 
constrains everything with a sweet and gracious 
spell which nothing else can equal. It is super¬ 
natural, for it has not a natural motive to feed upon. 
It is all from God and all for God. It is for¬ 
given sin for which we mourn, and not sin which 
perils itself; and this very fact makes it also a foun¬ 
tain of love. We love because much has been for¬ 
given, and we always remember how much it was. 
We love because the forgiveness has abated fear. We 
love because we wonder at the compassion that could 
so visit such unworthiness. We love because the soft¬ 
ness of sorrow is akin to the filial confidence of love. 
Thus abiding sorrow for sin is the only possible paral¬ 
lel in our souls to the mysterious life-long sorrow of 
Jesus and Mary; and the fact that that sorrow clung 
to them characteristically in spite of their sinlessness, 


7o 


ON SORROW FOR SIN 


seems to show how much of the secret life of Christian 
holiness is hidden in its gentle supernatural mel¬ 
ancholy.” 21 

This, then, brings us back to the text used at the 
beginning of the sermon, where Joel the prophet quotes 
the very words of God: “Be converted to Me with 
all your hearts in fasting, and in weeping, and in 
mourning. And rend your hearts, and not your gar¬ 
ments, and turn to the Lord your God; for He is 
gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy, and 
ready to repent of the evil.” 22 For there is no ob¬ 
ject comparable to our most loving Father in heaven, 
that claims our love; His love for us calls for the 
greatest return, and as sin is the greatest evil we can 
possibly imagine, because it separates us from the in¬ 
finite love of God, it must be detested, avoided, and 
sorrowed for more than any other evil in the world. 

St. Augustine says: “Christ’s compassion beheld 
thee before thou knewest Him, when thou wert lying 
under sin. For did we first seek Christ, and not He 
seek us? Did we come sick to the Physician, and not 
the Physician to the sick? Was not that sheep lost, 
and did not the Shepherd, leaving the ninety and nine 
in the wilderness, seek and find it, and joyfully carry 
it back on His shoulders? Was not the piece of money 
lost, and the woman lighted the lamp, and searched in 
the whole house until she found it? And when she 
found it ‘Rejoice with me,’ she said to her neighbors, 
‘for I have found the piece of money which I lost/ 
In like manner were we lost as the sheep, lost as the 
piece of money; and our Shepherd found the sheep, 
but sought the sheep; the woman found the piece of 
money, but sought the piece of money.” 23 And so 
you can see that our Saviour seeks us first, and that 

21 “Growth in Holiness,” page 23 On St. John’s Gospel, 

3 2 5 - Tract. 8, No. 21, 

22 Joel ii. 12, 13. 


ON SORROW FOR SIN J I 

,He loves us first; therefore “the measure of our lov¬ 
ing God is to love Him without measure,” as says 
St. Bernard, and the measure of our hating sin is to 
hate it without measure. 

If you have this perfect sorrow, as I have already 
said, your sins are immediately forgiven, and God 
blots them out from your soul. For if, with this su¬ 
preme and intense love of God and hatred for sin, you 
are in any situation in which you cannot confess your 
sins to a priest, you cannot and will not be lost on that 
account. It is said by God Himself: “When thou 
shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find Him: yet 
so if thou seek Him with all thy heart, and all the 
affliction of thy soul.” 24 

It cannot be too' strongly insisted upon here that 
in this matter of perfect sorrow for sin, no sentimen¬ 
tality should have place, nor is a comparison to be 
allowed between loss of temporal things and the sor¬ 
row therefor with the interior, supernatural sorrow 
for sin. Weeping bitterly for the death, for instance, 
of a beloved parent, or spouse, or child, or friend can¬ 
not be brought into comparison with the sorrow for 
the loss of God, and the determination of the will to 
avoid sin for the future. In a word, perfect sorrow 
may be in the soul without the slightest movement of 

I the body, for it is a soul-movement to God, the source 
of all love. It does not require any formula of words, 
though the “Act of Contrition” as found in ordinary 
prayer-books and catechisms is a formula of perfect 
sorrow, and if you really and fully mean it when you 
say it, God forgives your sins immediately. How¬ 
ever, the obligation of subsequent confession remains 
as strong as ever; sorrow will not abolish that obliga¬ 
tion, it presupposes it. 

Yet notwithstanding all this, which is in perfect ac¬ 
cordance with the teaching of the Churchy Cardinal, 

24 Deut, iv. 2Q f . 




72 


ON SORROW FOR SIN 


Newman teaches that she also “holds that a soul laden 
with the most enormous offenses, in deed as well as 
thought, a savage tyrant, who delighted in cruelty, an 
habitual adulterer, a murderer, a blasphemer, who has 
scoffed at religion through a long life and corrupted 
every soul which he could bring within his influence, 
who has loathed the Sacred Name, and cursed his 
Saviour—that such a man can under circumstances, 
in a moment, by one thought of the heart, by one true 
act of contrition, reconcile himself to Almighty God 
(through His secret grace), without sacrament, with¬ 
out priest, and be as clean, and fair, and lovely as if 
he had never sinned. Again, she considers that in a 
moment also, with eyes shut and arms folded, a man 
may cut himself off from the Almighty by a deliberate 
act of the will, and cast himself into perdition.” 25 
Such is the great mercy of God, such the power of the 
will, aided by His grace, and such is its power to 
damn a man who does not correspond with that grace. 

But there in another kind of sorrow which has much 
in common with the perfect contrition of which we 
have just now spoken: it is commonly called attrition. 
This lower kind of sorrow looks at sin more from 
the viewpoint of self than that of God. Each indeed 
is based on supernatural motives and each must of 
necessity be universal,—that is, each must include all 
mortal sins. There is no middle way, a man cannot 
be a rebel in one point and a loyalist in another: he 
must hate all mortal sin, or he hates none. “Who¬ 
soever shall keep the whole law,” says St. James, “but 
offend in one point, is become guilty of all.” 26 But 
this hatred leans more towards the fear of God and 
the fear of punishment, while perfect contrition, of 
which we have already spoken, casts out all fear and 
is prompted solely by the love of God. The lower 

25 “Difficulties of Anglicans,” 26 James ii. io. 
page 206. 


ON SORROW FOR SIN 


73 


kind of sorrow looks to God more as a judge; the 
higher kind regards God as an offended Father, The 
love of God must perforce be in both kinds, or there 
is no hope of forgiveness, for God is no slave-driver; 
but in the lesser sorrow, intermingled with this love 
is rather the fear of punishment. The greater kind 
detests sin as offensive to God, the lesser as injurious 
to self. True it is that the greatest injury to self is 
sin, by which is brought about the loss of God; for 
St. Augustine says: “Our rational nature is so great 
a good, that there is no good wherein we can be happy 
save God.” 27 And the same saint voices the heart 
of humanity when he cries out to God: “Thou mad- 
est us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it 
repose in Thee.” 28 

To repeat, so as not to be misunderstood, I say that 
jthis lesser sorrow is substantially an adhesion to God, 
even if it is indirect, for as we can never be satisfied 
with anything less than Him, so in the end the sinner 
detests all sin because it separates him from God. 
Should one be sorry merely from worldly motives; 
should one wish there were no hell or punishment so 
that he might continue in sin: that one is a slave only 
afraid of the whip, who, if once the whip were re¬ 
moved would be as mean and low as ever. A man 
like that deserves no forgiveness, nor will he be for¬ 
given; he has no love, is only a slave and deserves 
to be treated as such. 

There are indeed many in the world who are very 
sorry for their misdeeds; they have been found out; 
they have been exposed to the cruel, cynical gaze of 
society; they have been punished in jail, or have been 
condemned to die by the civil law. If their sorrow 
goes not above and beyond what men think of them; 
if they are sorry merely because the world has dis- 

27 On the Nature of God, 28 Conf. Book I. No. 
ch. 7. 


1. 







74 


ON SORROW FOR SIN 


covered them, then indeed do they deserve little pity 
from the great God and Lawgiver whom they have 
insulted and whose eternal law they have flouted and 
broken. 

Here is what the Catechism of the Council of Trent 
says; bear it well in mind for it is the official teaching 
of the Church: “Contrition, it is true, blots out sin; 
but who is ignorant, that to effect this, it must be so 
intense, so ardent, so vehement, as to bear a propor¬ 
tion to the magnitude of the crimes which it effaces? 
This is a degree of contrition which few reach, and 
hence, through perfect contrition alone, very few in¬ 
deed could hope to obtain the pardon of their sins. 
It, therefore, became necessary that the Almighty in 
His mercy should afford a less precarious and less 
difficult means of reconciliation and of salvation; and 
this He has done, in His admirable wisdom, by giving 
to His Church the keys of the kingdom of heaven, 
that is, the power of forgiving sins in confession.” 
St. Thomas Aquinas teaches: “Some, who are not 
perfectly contrite, by virtue of the keys obtain the 
grace of contrition ”; 29 that is, obtain contrition or 
perfect sorrow by the help of confession. 

You ought to be glad if you have even the lesser 
sorrow, yet you ought to strive for the highest and 
most efficacious—namely, for the pure love of God, 
leaving out your own selves. You are perfectly well 
aware that although of your own free will you can fall 
into mortal sin, yet you can never, never arise from 
that state of your own free will, unless God Himself 
first moves you to beg His pardon. And we are so un¬ 
spiritual that we are more liable to rest in the lesser 
sorrow than the greater; we are so coarse-minded that 
the command of our Saviour, “Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy 
whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with, thy 

3 - e Quodl. 4, Art. x. 






ON SORROW FOR SIN 


75 


whole strength,” 30 does not make the impression upon 
us that it should. And hence we give not to God the 
amount of love which lie asks for, yea, as it were, 
begs of us, for our own good. And so in His infinite 
love and mercy for sinners He has instituted the won¬ 
derful Sacrament by which, in conjunction with even 
this lesser love, He forgives us our sins. 

But not only must the sinner be sorry for God’s 
sake, but he must firmly resolve then and there to 
avoid all sin for the future. This firm purpose is 
necessarily included in the act of contrition, and is a 
resolution, by the help of God’s grace, not only to 
avoid sin, but also its near occasions. It is true that 
the sinner may fall again and again, after the most 
fervent acts of contrition, for Christ has allowed us 
to confess as often as we sin; but if the sinner at the 
time of his confession does not intend sincerely to 
change his life, and use the proper means for that 
end, then his confession is a fraud and a sham, and 
God will not ratify the absolution of the deceived 
priest. Indeed, the sinner is worse off than before, 
by reason of the added crime of sacrilege in making 
a bad confession. This resolution must not be a vague 
promise or wish, but must be a real, sincere determina¬ 
tion, come what will, to avoid sin. 

Sin is an open wound in the soul. The life-blood 
may be gushing out. The danger ceases by the clos¬ 
ing of this open wound by confession, yet an ugly, 
crusted scar may remain, which is disfiguring but not 
dangerous; so after the mortal sin has been remitted, 
after the danger has been passed, this scar can be re¬ 
moved only by satisfaction. To efface this scar is 
the work of time; old tendencies have to be overcome 
and new habits of virtue to be acquired; the old man 
of sin has to be put off and the new man of grace to 
be put on. Can any one flatter himself that he can 

3 ° Mfirk xii. 30. 


76 


ON SORROW FOR SIN 


do this ordinarily in a moment ? Can any one imagine 
that this can be done, after a life of sin, by simply a 
wish? Ah! how many times have we wished to do 
it, and have found by sad experience that “the spirit 
indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 31 

You can never do too much to make satisfaction 
for your sins, for it is said by the inspired writer: 
“Let nothing hinder thee from praying always, and 
be not afraid to be justified even to death: for the 
reward of God continueth forever. Before prayer 
prepare thy soul; and be not as a man that tempteth 
God. Remember the wrath that shall be at the last 
day and the time of repayment when He shall turn 
away His face.” 32 It may, indeed, be very true that 
the sorrow and love of a repentant sinner are so great 
and sincere that all his sins are immediately blotted 
out: not only that, but all the dregs and remains of 
sin are destroyed and the scars are healed up; but 
such sorrow and love are rarely found. 

Even David, the great sinner and model of all re¬ 
pentant souls, lost the child of his sin, whom he loved 
much, and was in trouble and sorrow till the end of 
his days. Notwithstanding his miserere, the Lord 
punished him severely in this life, though He for¬ 
gave his sin. And can you hope to have more sorrow 
than David, who wept and lamented all his life? 
“Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse 
me from my sin; for I know my iniquity and my sin 
is always before me.” 33 

Can you hope to have more sorrow than Mary Mag¬ 
dalen, whose life was a continual satisfaction for her 
sins? Can you hope to atone for your sins more 
than St. Peter, of whom it is said that furrows were 
worn in his cheeks by his tears, and who was crucified, 
an old man, with his head downwards, because he 

31 Matt. xxvi. 41. 83 Ps. 1 . 4, 5. 

32 Ecclus. xviii. 22-24. 




ON SORROW FOR SIN 


77 


! esteemed himself unworthy to be even crucified in the 
i same position as his Lord ? Ah, no! you and I can¬ 
not trust to mere sorrow for sin, without the subse- 
: quent satisfaction for it. Suffering is the law; those 
who break the law will have to take the consequences, 
and the consequences are satisfaction and atonement 
for sin. This satisfaction is not mechanical, nor by 
reason of vengeance, as if God were without love and 
pity. Oh, no! our God is a God of infinite love; He 
is love itself; there is no God, if I may speak thus 
in reverence, if God is not love in an infinite, incom¬ 
prehensible manner. That is just the reason why you 
must atone for sin. Satisfaction is a medicine; it 
cures the soul of its disorders; it heals the scars; it 
blots out the marks of sin; it detaches from the world 
of sin and draws the soul sweetly to the world of 
God. As gold is tried in the fire, and the dross burnt 
off, so the soul is tried in the fire of satisfaction. It 
is better to atone here than hereafter in the fires of 
purgatory; as no dross can tarnish the golden beauty 
of a soul before God in heaven, so “there shall not 
enter into it anything defiled.” 34 

This is beautifully expressed by St. Augustine in 
the following words: “We wish to see God, we ask 
to see God, we burn with desire to see God. Who is 
there who does not ? But behold what is said: 
‘Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God’ 
(Matt. v. 8). Prepare then to see. For if I may 
speak according to the flesh, how can you desire the 
light of the sun with eyes that are weak? Let the 
eyes be healthy, and the sunlight will be joyful, but 
if the eyes are weak the same light will be torture.” 35 
Let, then, all your prayers, all your good works, all 
your sufferings and trials be in atonement for your 
sins, and offer them to God for that end. 

Listen to the very wise admonition of St. Gregory 

34 Apoc. xxi. 27. 35 Sermon 14, All Saints. 




78 


ON SORROW FOR SIN 


the Great on this rule of life which I have asked you 
to observe. He says: “There are some to whom 
there is is lamenting but not humility, in that when they 
are afflicted, they weep; yet in those very tears they 
either set themselves in disdain against the life of 
their neighbors, or they are lifted up against the dis¬ 
pensation of their Maker. And there are very many 
who torment themselves in the wailings of supplica¬ 
tion; yet with all their pains in bewailing they spend 
themselves upon earthly objects of desire alone. 
They are pierced with anguish in their prayers, but it 
is the joys of transitory happiness that they are in 
search of.” 36 

Confess your sins with humility, with sincerity, and 
with the hope of getting pardon. Confess them into 
the willing ear of the priest, a sinner like yourselves; 
his personal sanctity has nothing to do with you, for 
he is the official minister of the sacrament, and acts 
in the place of and by the authority of Christ. He 
himself has to do what you are doing, and present 
himself on his knees before his fellow-priest, for his 
own personal sins. 

Confess your sins; as regards any mortal ones you 
may have committed, in number as nearly as you 
can remember, in difference of offense, and in change 
of nature, under one commandment or another. It 
is much better to make a fervent act of contrition be¬ 
fore you enter the confessional than to wait until the 
giving of absolution; you can repeat the act at that 
time. State your case as clearly and briefly as pos¬ 
sible. and use becoming and modest words. 

All kinds come to confession, the quick and the 
slow, the bright and the dull, the sincere and the 
hypocritical, the serious and the flippant. It is the most 
wonderful tribunal that ever was in the world; to 


36 On Job, verses 30-31. 






ON SORROW FOR SIN 


79 


it the Pope, the bishop, and the priest must have re¬ 
course, even as the youngest child endowed with rea¬ 
son, and the sinner whose soul has grown as hard as 
an anvil in crime. Surely it is a wonderful tribunal 
of mercy and pardon! Yet there is no forgiveness 
for the smallest sin where sorrow is wanting. And 
why should you be sorry for sin? Think for a mo¬ 
ment, here and now, of all the sins you have com¬ 
mitted, from the slight, and as it were, indeliberate 
faults of childhood down to the perhaps black in¬ 
gratitude and crimes of a long, misspent, life. What 
great matter you have for sorrow! All you who ever 
committed a mortal sin might now be in hell or might 
never again be sorry for it, unless God first moved 
you to make that act of contrition and the subsequent 
confession by which He forgave you. How many 
times has He done this ? Ask yourselves seriously 
this question, each one for himself before God. Your 
catechism tells you: “God created us to know Him, 
to love Him, and to serve Him in this life, and to 
be happy with Him forever in the next.” God 
created us for Himself! Wonderful, wonderful love! 

No human being, no angelic being, can fathom the 
depths of God’s love for the meanest and most crime¬ 
laden man on earth. God knows us and loves us; 
the devil knows us and despises us. Wonderful, in¬ 
comprehensible love! Ah! why should you be sorry 
for your sins ? Because God created you; because 
God redeemed you; because God sanctified you; the 
Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost. Look at the cruci¬ 
fix; think of the eternal Son of God dying for you, 
and for you alone; number His wounds; wash them 
with the tears of a repentant heart. Think of all that 
God has done for you; of how He has borne with 
your ingratitude, hourly, daily, yearly for a long time. 
If the love which conquers all things will not now 
conquer you; if the words of the loving Christ, re- 







8o 


ON SORROW FOR SIN 


ferring to His death upon the cross: “And I, if I 
be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to 
Myself/’ 37 are not true for you, then indeed you are 
in a frightful condition. 

O Jesus! dying upon the cross of shame, look down 
upon us with eyes of pity; grant that all Thou hast 
suffered for us may make us sorry for our sins, the 
cause of Thy sufferings and bitter, shameful death, 
and as with the publican of old we strike our breasts, 
give us the grace to sincerely say: “O God, be merci¬ 
ful to me a sinner/’ 38 Amen. 


37 John xii. 32. 


88 Luke xviii 


13 



ON SCANDAL 


“Woe to the world because of scandals. For it 
must needs be that scandals come; but nevertheless 
woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh.” 
(Matt, xviii. 7 .) 

SYNOPSIS 

Our Saviour came to show more clearly the way to heaven.— 

I Christ’s meekness and humility.—He drew all around Him.— 
And yet the fearful threat.—The extent of scandal.—Some ways 
of giving scandal.—Definition of scandal.—Diabolical scandal.— 
Every man is bound to edify his neighbors.—Parents.—The 
home.—Masters and mistresses.—Employers and employed.— 
Catholics and scandal.—The revelation of the last day.—Inten¬ 
tion not necessary.—David’s scandal and its punishment.— 
Scandal kills the soul.—The devil the first scandal giver.— 
Scandal of dress in women.—Not necessary that many should be 
witnesses.—Scandal given when not taken.—Scandal of Mass¬ 
missing.—Do not act like the Pharisees.—Scandal of familiars 
and of secret company-keeping.—Bad literature.—Bad moving- 
pictures.—Obligation to suppress cursing, etc.—Divorce.—Illegal 

I marriage.—Abortion.—Human respect.—Sneering at the good.— 
How great the sin of scandal is.—The press and the platform*— 
The society scandal-giver.—Ignorance of duty.—The value of 
the soul.—The consequences to the scandal-giver.—Give up the 
scandal-giver, howsoever dear.—Scandal-givers who repented 
and are now in heaven.—You can do as they did.—Edify others 
now to atone for scandal.—The cross: its power.—Prayer for 
forgiveness. 

My Dear Brethren : The Saviour of the world 
came on earth to point out more clearly than had been 
hitherto known the road on which men should travel 
in order to arrive at their heavenly destination. He 
came with meekness and humility, and laid upon all His 
followers the obligation of practising these beautiful 
virtues. His whole life, from His birth in the lowli¬ 
ness and poverty of the stable at Bethlehem to His 






82 


ON SCANDAL 


terrible death upon the cross at Calvary, was one 
object-lesson of good example and edification to all 
men. During His hidden life of thirty years we have 
scarcely any record of anything He said, but the pious 
mind can revel in the sweet mystery of its power¬ 
ful examples of home life, of obedience, and of love. 
During His public life, wherever He went He drew 
around Him the poor, the sorrowful, the despised, 
and the sinful. Those whom the Doctors of the Jew¬ 
ish Law contemned and looked down upon He loved 
and raised up, and gave them health of body and for¬ 
giveness of sin. And notwithstanding all this, you 
have heard, in the words of the text, the fearful threat 
our divine Master, so meek and so gentle, utters against 
the scandal-giver. 

We know that all sin is infinitely hateful in the 
sight of the all-holy God, but this particular sin of 
scandal must be most abominable when Jesus Christ, 
who says of Himself: “Learn of Me, because I am 
meek, and humble of heart,” 1 singles it out from the 
rest and pronounces upon it a special malediction. 
According to St. Mark, our Saviour adds that it were 
better for the scandal giver to die by a violent death 
than to be guilty of this crime: “It were better for 
him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and 
he were cast into the sea.” 2 And yet, terrible to 
tell, scandal is the commonest thing in the whole world. 
Cities and towns and villages are, as it were, overrun 
by it. It is like a pestilential vapor rising up from 
the earth poisoning every one who breathes it; it is 
like the darkness which, in one of the plagues of Moses, 
spread over the land of Egypt; like the destroying 
angel in another plague, it enters every home in the 
land which is not protected, and cuts down in the 
flower of youth and innocence its unsuspecting vic¬ 
tims; it is more to be dreaded than the most fearful 

1 Matt. xi. 2Q. 2 Mark ix. 41. 


ON SCANDAL 


83 


plague that every devastated any land. Men have be¬ 
come heroic in their efforts to keep away from among 
their fellow-men the awful spectre of contagious dis¬ 
ease ; countries have established quarantine stations on 
land and sea to keep themselves free from plague. 
Yet little or no action is taken to destroy the hydra- 
headed monster of scandal. Fathers and mothers of 
families, guardians or god-parents, pay little attention 
to this wide-spread evil; yea, they even increase it by 
their own bad example. Some give scandal by their 
dissolute, immodest, and irreligious speech; others, by 
their unbecoming manner of dress. Not infrequently 
children are allowed to bring into the home bad books 
and newspapers, and are permitted to feast their eyes 
and imagination upon obscene pictures, which under¬ 
mine their chastity and their faith. Yes, indeed, 
scandals exist to a great extent in the home, as well 
as in the workshop, no matter of what kind it may 
be. It is observed every day we walk abroad, in 
drunkenness, impurity, cursing, swearing, foul talk, 
and all the other kindred evils; it is seen in public 
prostitution, as well as among those who, acting less 
openly, yet none the less effectually, use their wiles 
and enticements for the catching of the unwary. It 
can l>e found among men who have wives and among 
women who have husbands; it attains its full flower 
in this particular form among those who entice young 
and unsuspecting girls into the awful moral depths of 
the hell of those who live in lowest slavery of sub¬ 
jection to men, and who are cast aside as unfit rags 
when they no longer satisfy impure passion. 

The sin of scandal paves the way for crimes of all 
kinds, much more than good example does for acts of 
virtue, because men are more inclined to do wrong than 
to do right; men are more prone to follow their evil 
passions, especially if bad example is before their eyes, 
than to do that which requires them to fight in order 







8 4 


ON SCANDAL 


to gain the victory. Oh, beg of God in humility to 
guard you against ever giving scandal or being over¬ 
come by it. Trusting in the help of God, I mean to 
lay before you for your deep consideration some of the 
ways in which scandal can be given; the greatness of 
the sin and the injuries it inflicts; and then the means 
by which it can in some measure be repaired. As I 
have used and shall continue to use in this sermon the 
word scandal, it is necessary that I define exactly what 
it is before going any further. Let me begin with the 
word itself; it comes immediately from the Latin word 
scandalunq, which means a stumbling block, or any¬ 
thing placed in the way over which one may fall. 
In a figurative sense, it is any occasion, or entice¬ 
ment, to fall into sin. In this figurative sense, the 
great Doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, de¬ 
fines scandal as ‘‘any word, or act, or omission which 
may occasion the spiritual ruin of another.” 3 This 
definition is so important that it is necessary you 
weigh it well, so that you may see the many ways in 
which scandal can be given. It is, as has been said, 
a word, or an action or the neglect of doing some¬ 
thing which you are bound to do by the law of God 
or of His Church; it is something that does not force 
any one to do or omit anything; it only gives the oc¬ 
casion, or if you will, the example to sin; it is not nec¬ 
essary that the occasion be used, or the example be 
followed; nor is it needful that the scandal-giver should 
have clearly in his mind the idea that he is enticing 
others or giving them an occasion of falling. It is 
true that there are some who delight in the spiritual 
ruin of others, but that is more directly the work of 
the devil than of man; nevertheless, the want of such 
an intention does not lessen the sin of scandal. If 
the action, or word, or neglect in itself, or on account 
of circumstances is liable to lead any one whosoever 
3 2 dae 2 d »e Art. I. 


ON SCANDAL 


85 


into sin, then there is scandal. Of course all sins are 
not mortal, then neither is every kind of scandal mor¬ 
tal, but it is of the deadly kind I am now speaking. 
Scandal is more or less grave by reason of him who 
gives it, of the innocence of the person before whom 
it is done, and of the number of those who are wit¬ 
nesses. “It is not always scandal,” says St. Alphon- 
sus Liguori, “if one sins before others, but only when, 
on account of the circumstances both of the persons 
acting as well as of those before whom the action is 
done, it can be probably feared that they will be brought 
to sin who otherwise would not sin.” 4 It is, then, not 
necessary that they actually fall into the sin; all that 
is necessary is the occasion of it. Every man living 
is bound by the common law of charity to give edi¬ 
fication to his fellow-men. When St. Paul gave 
this advice to the Romans: “Let every one 
of you) please his neighbor unto good, jto 
edification,” 5 he had in view every one, not excepting 
any condition, rank, or person. But some are bound 
to avoid scandal by reason of one condition, others 
by reason of another. All are placed in different rela¬ 
tions one to another, and in these relations are bound 
to give edification at the peril of their souks damna¬ 
tion. Fathers and mothers are bound by the gravest 
obligation of all to edify their children and bring 
them up in the fear and love of God. The home is 
the school of the world; nothing can take its place; 
the family is the foundation-stone of society. Chil¬ 
dren are bound to obey their parents, and give good 
example to one another; this must be observed until 
they set up families for themselves; the age of the 
person does not abolish this important obligation. 

Masters and mistresses in families where servants 
are employed are bound by the strictest law to see 
that their servants lead good lives, and must give them 

4 Lib. xi. No. 43- 5 R° m - xv - 2 - 




86 


ON SCANDAL 


the time and means to practise their religion; the same 
is to be said of all employers and those in power, as 
far as it possibly can be done. True it is that society 
laughs at these obligations, but that does not take 
them away nor destroy their binding power. St. 
Paul embraces this whole subject of fathers and 
mothers, masters and mistresses, employers and 
workers, in his Epistle to the Ephesians: “Fathers, 
provoke not your children to anger; but bring them 
up in the discipline and correction of the Lord. Ser¬ 
vants, be obedient to them that are your lords accord¬ 
ing to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the simpli¬ 
city of your heart, as to Christ: not serving to the 
eye, as it were pleasing men, but as the servants of 
Christ doing the will of God from the heart. With 
a good will serving, as to the Lord, and not to men. 
Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man shall 
do, the same shall he receive from the Lord, whether 
he be bond, or free. 'And you, masters, do the same 
things to them, forbearing threatenings, knowing that 
the Lord both of them and you is in heaven; and 
there is no respect of persons with Him.’’ ,J In this 
teaching of the great Apostle all are bound to edify by 
their conduct and morals those who live in subjection to 
them. Catholics are held responsible to Almighty God 
for their conduct before those who are not of the 
household of the faith. How many weak ones who 
do not belong to the Church, but are yearning for the 
hope and the consolation afforded by it, are kept out 
of it by the immoral lives and bad conduct of the 
Church’s own wicked children! How many times 
does she blush, as it were, at the laughter, jeers, and 
sneers of those who point the finger of scorn at the 
actions and manner of living of persons who profess 
to be Catholics! They are a disgrace to the Catholic 
name; they profess one thing and do the opposite; 

6 Ephes. vi. 4-9. 


ON SCANDAL 


87 


they say they believe, and yet act as if they believed 
not; they follow Christ in word, but in reality are 
Antichrists—that is, they are against Him. Listen 
to what St. Augustine has to say on this very point: 
“He who denieth that Jesus is the Christ, that same is 
an Antichrist. Now therefore let us inquire who 
denies; and let us mark not the tongue, but the deeds. 
For if all be asked, all with one mouth confess that 
Jesus is the Christ. Let the tongue keep still for 
awhile, ask the life. If we shall find this thing, if 
the Scripture itself shall tell us that denial is a thing 
done not only with the tongue, but also with the deeds, 
then assuredly we find many Antichrists who with the 
mouth profess Christ and in their manners dissent from 
Christ. Where find we this in Scripture? Hear Paul 
the Apostle. Speaking of such, he saith, ‘They pro¬ 
fess that they know God: but in their works they deny 
Him’ (Titus i. 16). Consequently, we find these also 
to be Antichrists: whosoever in his deeds denies 
Christ is an Antichrist. I listen not to what he says, 
but I look what life he leads. Works speak, and do 
we require words? For where is the bad man who 
does not wish to talk well.” 7 Oh! it is only on the 
last day of terrible judgment that the awful havoc 
wrought by this kind of scandal will be shown, whereby 
immortal souls were kept out of God’s Church and de¬ 
prived of the life of His grace and the blessings of 
His Sacraments. 

I have already told you that it is not necessary that 
one should have the fixed intention of giving scandal. 
No, it is sufficient that the act, or word, or omission be 
capable of such an effect. When David sinned with 
Bethsabee, the wife of Urias, he had no intention of 
sacrificing her soul; nevertheless, to the end of his days 
he always deplored the scandal, and for it lie was pun¬ 
ished very much in this life. The impure man who 

7 St. Augustine, Homily iii. No. 8, On St. John. 



88 


ON SCANDAL 


follows the woman and does everything in his power to 
conquer her firmness, who by deceit, by guile, and by 
promise, seeks to gratify his passions and lead his de¬ 
sired victim into sin, is guilty of the foulest murder: he 
seeks to satisfy himself not by the destruction of bodily 
life but by that of the soul itself. Christ says the devil 
“was a murderer from the beginning,” 8 because he en¬ 
ticed our first parents into sin; he destroyed, as far as 
he could, their souls. So is it with the scandal-giver; 
he does as the devil did before. Let me strengthen 
my statement by the very words of the great St. 
Augustine. He says: “The devil was a murderer 
from the beginning. Look at the kind of murder, 
brethren. The devil is called a murderer, not as 
armed with a sword, or girded with steel. He came 
to man, sowed his evil suggestions, and slew him. 
Think not, then, that thou art not a murderer when 
thou persuadest thy brother to evil. If thou persuad- 
est thy brother to evil, thou slayest him.” 9 

Then, again, look at the scandalous way of dressing 
that women adopt to-day. It is positively outrageous, 
indecent, and immodest. It is nothing else but pagan¬ 
ism, an appeal to the sensual instincts of men and 
highly scandalous. The worst of it is, that those who 
dress in this manner appear to be perfectly forgetful 
of the fact that they are appealing to the lustful pas¬ 
sions of men by their actions. Formerly the common 
woman of the street might have dressed in this fashion; 
now nearly all do it without a qualm of conscience: 
so low has the standard of morality fallen. There 
cannot possibly be any good purpose in the present 
style of dress; it is only the vanity and sensual appeal 
of the woman to the man. It is impossible for any 
decent, moral man nowadays to walk the streets with¬ 
out having his eyes offended and his imagination fired 

8 John viii. 44. pel of St. John, Sermon 42, 

9 St, Augustine, On the Gos- No. 11. 


ON SCANDAL 


89 


by the suggestive dress of the women whom he meets 
and sees. Sins beyond measure, sins of desire, sins 
of action are daily and hourly committed by men, 
just by reason of what I have said about dress. No 
decent, self-respecting woman should by this manner 
of dress expose herself to be the mental prostitute 
of nearly every man she meets. Over fifteen hundred 
years ago the great St. John Chrysostom had to de¬ 
nounce in women this sinfulness and scandal of dress. 
His words are: “Hence the countless evils, hence the 
jealousies, hence the fornications of the men, when 
ye prepare them to cast off self-restraint, when ye 
teach them to take delight in those things with which 
the harlot women deck themselves.” 10 Worldly so¬ 
ciety nowadays calls for dresses, on the street, in ball¬ 
rooms, and other public places such as can be worn 
by no consistently Christian woman, nor in any way 
tolerated without the sin of scandal. And yet we 
have fathers and mothers who are continually guilty 
of scandal by allowing their children to dress in thi9 
immodest fashion and frequent places where their 
souls are tainted by a like moral corruption. They 
introduce their children into this kind of society, rot¬ 
ten to the core, in order to sell them off as wives, not 
for any virtue of soul that they, or the persons to 
whom they are practically sold, possess, but for the 
empty honors of society and worldly gain. 

Another thing you must bear in mind about scandal 
is, that it is not necessary that many should be wit¬ 
nesses of it. Some people seem to have the idea that it 
is given only when it is public. By no means; it is 
given even if only one is present, and even though that 
person does not fall into sin by reason of it; yea, even 
though that person is shocked by the act, or word, or 
omission. Further, although some person should be 
already steeped, as it were, in sin, it is scandal to lead 

10 St. John Chrysostom, Sermon 89, No. 3. 


9° 


ON SCANDAL 


him to another sin, or to give him the occasion of sin¬ 
ning. I said a moment ago that scandal is given when 
another is shocked at the act, or word, or omission; 
for it is not necessary that the scandal be taken— 
it is only required that the scandal be given. There 
is a great error in supposing that scandal is not given 
when nobody is affected by it. On the contrary, it 
is only by the virtue of the other party, aided by the 
grace of God, that the scandal is not yielded to and 
the sin committed. The man who places an obstacle 
in the way of a railroad train, even though the en¬ 
gineer may see it and thereby save the lives of the 
passengers, is none the less a murderer on that account. 
Jie who applies lighted matches to a house in order 
to set it afire is counted an incendiary, even if the 
effect does not follow. 

Scandal may also be given not by doing some parti¬ 
cular thing, but by omitting to do something. Think 
of how much scandal is given by the missing of Mass 
on Sundays and holydays! What kind of punishment 
will be measured out to parents who give this terrible 
scandal to their children. Some rarely or never go to 
Mass, and they seem indifferent whether their children 
go or not. Such people not only damn their own souls, 
but by their bad example they are striving to do the 
same to their children’s souls. For every child they 
have, they are bound before Almighty God to give 
good example in the home; and for every child capable 
of knowing, whom they keep from Mass on days of 
obligation, they are guilty of a mortal sin of scandal. 
Again, a thing may not be evil in itself, but may have 
the appearance of evil. As far as possible, for the 
neighbor’s sake, it must be avoided. Not that you 
should act like the Scribes and Pharisees of old, who 
were scandalized at the holiest actions of Christ; but 
that you should imitate St. Paul, who would not eat the 
meat offered to idols; not that it was sinful to do 


ON SCANDAL 9 1 

so, but in the eyes of the weaker brethren, it had the 
appearance of evil. 11 

St. Gregory the Great says on this very subject: 
“It sufficeth not for a man to abstain from evil deeds, 
if he strive not to join thereto the earnest doing of 
good works. Concerning which works the Lord 
saith, ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they 
shall see your good works, and glorify your Father 
who is in heaven!’ ” (Matt. v. 16.) 12 

Again, parents and guardians who admit into their 
houses, either as servants, or with the familiarity of 
friends, persons of doubtful character, are liable to be 
guilty of the gravest kind of scandal. Little do some 
think of the danger to which they expose their children 
by the prevalent system of secret company-keeping. 
Perhaps some of you are aware of it by sorrowful 
experience, and in placing a careless confidence in 
persons whom you did not know. 

You lament and weep when one of your children 
dies; you cry out and ask why God has done this; but 
has the death of your child’s soul by your scandal 
ever brought a qualm to your conscience ? Has it ever 
struck you that the scandal-giver, to whom you hand 
over your child, may be a man of smooth tongue, 
polished worldly manners, and faultless appearance 
and dress? “The spirit of Christian charity,” says 
St. Augustine, “lives not within you, if you lament 
the death of the body from which the soul has de¬ 
parted, but lament not the soul from which God has 
departed.” 13 

And what can be said of the terrible flood of bad 
literature? It covers the world like the Deluge of 
old; the only salvation is the ark—the ark of the 
Church. Oh! beware of what you read; see that bad 

11 1 Cor. viii. 13 St. Augustine, Sermon 41, 

12 St. Gregory the Great, On the Saints. 

Sermon 13, On the Gospels. 




92 


ON SCANDAL 


books, papers, and pictures are kept out of your 
homes, as you would keep out the pestilence. 

Have nothing to do with the bad moving-pictures 
of the times; they are responsible for murder, rob¬ 
bery, lust, and crime of all kinds; to them are traceable 
a great many evils of the day, especially in the young. 
Keep yourselves and your children away from them; 
for some of those pictures could well be filmed in 
hell and operated by the devil himself, because they 
pander to the lowest passions of men and cause fright¬ 
ful scandal. 

Those who can suppress cursing, swearing, slander, 
detraction, and foul speech, but will not do so, are 
guilty of scandal. I mean by that, those who are in 
authority, whether in the home or outside of it. And, 
O my God! how can I paint in living colors the scandal 
of parents who frequently curse and swear at their 
own children? Instead of being taught to pray to 
God, and to pronounce the holy name of Jesus with 
reverence and love, they hear nothing but cursing, 
swearing, and the degradation of that Holy Name— 
and, if not at home, they are allowed to contract the 
habit from outside. Our divine Saviour said: “Out 
of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A 
good man out of a good treasure bringeth forth good 
things; and an evil man out of an evil treasure bringeth 
forth evil things. But I say unto you, that every 
idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an 
account for it in the day of judgment.” 14 What, 
think you, will be the judgment of those who scandal¬ 
ize others, especially their own children, in the way 
I have just described? What of drunkenness, of 
quarreling and of fighting at home ? Many a 
person, many a girl, has been driven from a 
bad home, has contracted a bad marriage with almost 
the first person she met, or has sunk down into a shame- 

14 Matt. xii. 34-36. 


ON SCANDAL 93 

ful life of sin and degradation by reason of a bad 
home. 

Then, again, the terrible evil of divorce, which is 
fast eating the life out of the vitals of the country. 
It is simply nothing but legalized prostitution, and it 
is fast coming down from the strata of high-toned 
society into the homes of the middle and lower classes. 
No country, no society can keep up this scandal and 
hold together. Then consider the scandal of hasty 
and illegal marriages. There is no marriage at all 
when it is attempted to be contracted against the laws 
of the Church by Catholics; the neighborhood knows 
of this scandal and the evil spreads far and wide, caus¬ 
ing others to do the same. 

Again, see the horrible scandal of those who give 
bad advice to others for the purpose of abortion, or 
of frustrating the primary end of married life, either 
by the destruction of life or the prevention of life. 
What will be the hell of those who do, or advise 
others to do, such foul deeds? Human respect is one 
of the most powerful and deadliest weapons of the 
devil. The sneer, the laugh, the imputation of bad 
motives have destroyed faith and the practise of it in 
many men and women. It requires unusual strength 
to bear up against human respect. And yet there are 
persons who laugh at the good, sneer at their piety, 
and impute bad motives to them. Bad themselves, 
they hate the good because they are a standing pro¬ 
test against their own evil lives, and so, as St. Augus¬ 
tine says, they strive to kill the good in man “by the 
sword of the tongue.” How many men and women 
have been ashamed to practise their religion and do 
good works by reason of this powerful weapon of the 
devil ? 

Look around you and see the horrible scandal of 
those in high stations, in governments and society, 
who for the sake of power or earthly gain balk the 


94 


ON SCANDAL 


beneficent action of the Church upon the world. They 
persecute the Church; they hamper her action in every 
way they can, and impute bad motives to the Pope. 
This is what St. Augustine says on this very subject: 
“They truly persecute the Church, who persecute by 
means of deceit; they strike the heart more heavily 
who strike with the sword of the tongue; they shed 
blood more bitterly who, as far as they can, slay Christ 
in man.” 15 

It is impossible to find time to go over all the cases 
in which scandal may be given; let it suffice to repeat, in 
the words I gave in its definition, that it is any action, 
or word, or omission likely to lead another into sin. 
Apply these words to yourselves, think over them, and 
see if they come home to you in any way. 

Let us now see how great the sin of scandal is. It is 
one of the worst sins of which a man can be guilty. 
Every sin is measured by the dishonor it causes God, 
the evil it inflicts on the neighbor, and the injury done 
to oneself. The sin of scandal brings to God the 
greatest dishonor, it destroys the human soul, the most 
precious thing in the world, and inflicts untold loss up¬ 
on the scandal-giver himself. “Blessed is the man who 
hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor 
stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pes¬ 
tilence.” 16 Scandal inflicts dishonor on God, for it 
opposes itself to His glory, inasmuch as it withdraws 
from Him His own creature whom He made to love 
and serve Him. “I the Lord, this is My name: I will 
not give My glory to another.” 17 By scandal, the 
finite wages war against the infinite; the creature 
against the Creator. Not satisfied with doing this 
alone, lie must needs drag in others by his scandal. 
Tell me, who has brought another into the ways of im¬ 
purity? Who has made drunkards, thieves, liars, evil- 

15 On the Gospel of St. 16 Ps. i. i. 

John’s Sermon 5, Chap. 12. 17 Is. xlii. 8. 




ON SCANDAL 


95 


speakers? The answer is—the scandal-giver, for the 
most part. If now they are sunk down in immorality, 
if their reason is ruined by excess in drink, if every 
word, or nearly so, which they utter is foul or profane, 
who is to blame ? Oh! if hell could yield up its victims 
of scandal, we would get a clear answer to our question. 
For every soul which yields to scandal, God is robbed 
of so much honor and glory; and not only that, but it is 
snatched out of His fatherly hands. Oh, how dear to 
Him are the souls of men! He created them after His 
own image; He sent His Son to redeem them. The 
Holy Ghost sanctifies them; the scandal-giver tries to 
destroy them! God must necessarily love Himself, be¬ 
cause He is infinite perfection; this He must do, be¬ 
cause He needs no creature nor any outward homage 
to add to His infinite happiness. The scandal-giver 
directs his hatred against even the essence of God; if 
he could, he would destroy Him and His religion and 
everything else that is sacred. He uses his diabolic 
power in the press and on the platform to bring about 
this result by open insult, by secret, insidious insin¬ 
uations against God, His providence, and His holy 
Church. Is not this scandal rampant at the present day ? 

I I said that the scandal-giver injures his neighbor 
in the highest degree. Let us place him in comparison 
with other hurtful members of society, and see if this 
be true. Robbers are justly looked upon as very per¬ 
nicious persons; laws are made against them and if 
caught they are justly punished. The scandal-giver 
is a thousand times worse; the robber steals your 
property; he defrauds you of your money, but you 
may be able to get it back. But the scandal-giver tries 
to rob you of that which is beyond price, and which 
you may never regain—the grace of God. Many, in¬ 
deed, do regain God’s grace; but how many there are 
who, having been once scandalized, fell into sin, went 
on and on in a career of crime, destroying others in 






96 


ON SCANDAL 


their turn, scattering the seeds of evil, and raising a 
frightful crop of scandals, until all sink down into the 
grave and the awful companionship of the devils in 
hell. Hear what St. Augustine says on this: ‘'Rob¬ 
bers, with regard to those whom they wish to despoil, 
have the purpose to enrich themselves and to deprive 
their victims of all that they have; but thou takest 
from him, and with thee there will not be anything 
jnore, for there does not accrue more to thee because 
thou takest from him.” 18 And so the scandal-giver 
is not any the richer, but the one who falls is deprived 
of all he possessed. Then, again, murderers take the 
life of the body; the scandal-giver that of the soul. 
In the persecutions of the early Church, men and 
women, and children were slaughtered by thousands 
for the sake of Christ; now, men, women, and children 
are slaughtered by millions for the sake of the devil. 
The “blood of the martyrs was the seed of Christians”; 
the scandal of the day is the seed of the damned. We 
stand aghast at the hearing of some foul murder of 
the body, but smilingly, or at least carelessly, pass 
over the fouler murder of the soul. The tyrant of 
old sent his victims to heaven; the scpndal-giver sends 
his victims to hell! In the early days the Church 
was openly persecuted by pagans; in these days she 
is persecuted by her own scandal-giving children. 
We know the devil, and are therefore on our guard 
against him; but his agent, the scandal-giver, is a 
wolf in sheep’s clothing. He hides himself under 
the cloak of hypocrisy, which is sometimes very 
difficult to tear off; he insinuates himself into 
all kinds of society, even into the society of 
the holiest. He is baptized, but he thinks of the 
other Sacraments only as “last Sacraments,” rather 
than to be regularly received. He cannot allow re¬ 
ligion to interfere with his business relations of every- 

18 On the Gospel of St. John, Sermon 5, No. 12. 


ON SCANDAL 


97 


day life; it is a Sunday affair, like a change of clothing. 
His religion comes in with the doctor, and smells of 
iodoform, rather than of incense. He thinks more of 
the social register than of the register of the recording 
angel. He sends his children to irreligious or atheis¬ 
tic schools, and they return to him wholly robbed of 
their faith. He may have his name ostentatiously 
carved over the front door of a hospital; or he may 
be what is known as “a pillar of the church/’ but he is 
on his way to hell. He is culpably ignorant of his 
own duty to his God, to his Church, and to his family, 
and he hands down his carelessness to his own children, 
above all persons in the world. He makes excuses for 
the practises of the Church, and tries to lessen and be¬ 
little her teachings; he finds fault with her good works, 
because the charity of Christ finds no place in his soul. 
He has even the boldness, if not openly to say, at least 
openly to act, as if one religion were just as good 
and as true as another, and that in the presence of 
worldly indifferentists. “Woe to you Scribes and 
Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut the kingdom 
of heaven against men; for you go not in yourselves, 
and those that are going in you suffer not to enter.” 19 
Yes, indeed does the scandal-giver murder the soul, 
which is worse than the murder of the body, for 
Christ asks the question: “What shall a man give in 
exchange for his soul?” 20 Nothing in God’s creation, 
short of an angel, is equal in value to the soul of 
the meanest and most sinful man that ever lived; 
millions of worlds are as nothing in comparison 
to it. Do you wish to know the value of your soul? 
Then look to Calvary; see Jesus there hanging upon 
the cross, a bleeding, suffering Victim for that soul. 
His hands and feet are pierced with the terrible nails; 
His head is crowned with thorns; His body is wounded 
from head to foot by the frightful scourging, and then 

Matt, xxiii. 13. 20 Mark viii. 37 - 


9 8 


ON SCANDAL 


ask yourself again: What is the value of my soul? 
For your soul, for my soul, for the soul of the greatest 
and foulest sinner that ever lived, or will ever live, that 
blood was poured out even from His Sacred Heart. 
He had every soul before His mind when He hung 
upon that cross; he foresaw the terrible work of the 
scandal-giver, and yet He died for each and every 
soul. His arms were outstretched for the loving em¬ 
brace of all; and the scandal-giver snatches many 
away. Hear what St. Augustine says: “Lest thou 
shouldst pay no regard to the weak brother, he (the 
Apostle Paul) added, ‘for whom Christ hath died/ 
If thou wouldst disregard him, yet consider his price, 
and weigh well the whole world in the balance with 
the blood of Christ.” 21 Your soul, then, is of price¬ 
less worth; it was bought by the Blood of God; the 
scandal-giver kills it by depriving it of the fruits of 
that Blood. Surely the injury he inflicts on others is 
terrible and awful to his own soul. Yet, surely and 
inevitably the scandal-giver draws upon his own soul 
the most appalling consequences. How shall I enumer¬ 
ate all of them? It would be impossible; suffice it to 
say that they are contained in the words of our divine 
Lord: “Woe to that man by whom the scandal 
cometh." 22 These words imply all kinds of chastise¬ 
ments; chastisements for the body; chastisements for 
the soul; chastisements for time; chastisements for 
eternity. 

The scandal-giver is often made a fearful example of 
even in this life, and if God in His infinite patience de¬ 
lays to act in time, eternity will be long enough to 
avenge His outraged Blood. O man! O scandal-giver! 
if you fall into the hands of your angry God, what will 
be your lot? No soul elevated by your good words has 
gone before you to plead for you. Your angel guard- 

21 St. Augustine, Sermon, 22 Matt, xviii. 7. 

62, Chap. II. 


ON SCANDAL 


99 


ian, whom you so often shamed, will be powerless to do 
anything for you. In life he guarded you, now his 
office is over. No one to help you; no one to plead for 
you before the Judge. Woe is your portion for eter¬ 
nity in hell, separated from God, and in the company of 
those who are there by your scandal. Oh! if on earth 
we are shocked by fights and bitter quarrels, what will 
be quarrels and fighting, what the oaths and curses 
hurled at the head of the scandal-giver by those who are 
there on his account and who know of the new arrival ? 
Oh! think what an awful thing it is to have a whole 
family in hell by scandal. The father and mother 
cursed by their children, and they cursed by their par¬ 
ents ! What will the impure man do for his compan¬ 
ions now? They are both in hell! Oh! I repeat 
again, beware of giving or taking scandal; fly from 
the scandal-giver, for St. Paul says: “Evil communi¬ 
cations corrupt good manners.” 23 And the Book of 
Wisdom says: “By the envy of the devil death came 
into the world. And they follow him who are on his 
side.” 24 Pray to God in the words of holy David, 
and say to Him: “Much peace have they that love 
Thy law, and to them there is no stumbling block.” * 5 

No matter how dear any one may be to you, if he is a 
scandal-giver you must give him up; fly from him. 
Listen to the strong, warning words of our Lord on 
this very point: “If thy hand, or thy foot scandalize 
thee, cut it off. It is better for thee to go into life 
maimed or lame, than having two hands or two feet, 
to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thy eye scan¬ 
dalize thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. It is 
better for thee having one eye to enter into life, than 
having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.” 21(5 If you 
do not wish to lose God, you must give up everything 
that keeps you from Him. 

23 1 . Cor. xv. 33. 25 Ps. cxviii. 165. 

24 Wisd. ii. 24, 25. 26 Matt, xviii. 8, 9. 


IOO 


ON SCANDAL 


And now, in conclusion, how are you to make amends 
for any scandal you have given? First and above all, 
by a sincere and contrite confession of your sins. 
Through such a confession, the infinitely merciful God 
will forgive you. You cannot doubt this in the face 
of the many instances of God’s love to repentant scan¬ 
dal-givers. Look up to heaven and see men and 
women, now saints there, who at one time on earth were 
scandal-givers. See David the king, who scandalized 
the whole Jewish people by his adultery and murder. 
See the glorious St. Paul, who held the clothes of those 
who stoned to death the first Christian martyr, St. 
Stephen, and who was a fierce persecutor of those who 
followed Christ. Behold St. Mary Magdalen, a com¬ 
mon woman, who drew many into sin by her charms, 
and who was the penitent and friend of Christ, who 
knelt at the foot of His cross and was the first, after 
His Mother, to see Him when He arose from the dead. 
Think of St. Augustine, who for many years led a dis¬ 
orderly, sinful life, and who afterwards became a great 
bishop and Doctor of the Church, and now forgiven, is 
gloriously reigning in heaven. 

What they have done you can do, by the same graces 
they received and used. They were weak like you, but 
they corresponded with God’s grace, and were made 
strong, and are now in the possession of the kingdom 
of God. They atoned for their scandal by edifying 
their fellow-beings; so must you. David, deploring his 
sins, cries out: “I will teach the unjust Thy ways ; and 
the wicked shall be converted to Thee.” 27 You must 
act likewise, and for the future, edify by your good 
behavior as many as formerly you may have scan¬ 
dalized. If in the past you were impure in act or 
speech, now be pure in the sight of God and of men. 
If in the past you were addicted to cursing and swear¬ 
ing, now avoid it, and instead use your speech in God’s 

27 Ps. 1 . 14. 






ON SCANDAL 


IOI 


praise. If in the past you wounded your neighbor’s 
character by an evil tongue, now speak well of him, 
and atone for the injury you have done. If in the past 
you stayed away from Mass on days of obligation and 
kept others from that Holy Sacrifice, now attend faith¬ 
fully to that great means of grace and blessing, and see 
that those under your care do the same. In a word, 
for the future, be Christians, not in name but in reality; 
follow Christ and manfully take up His cross, and then, 
only then, can you hope to obtain the crown. Our Sa¬ 
viour says : “If any man will follow Me, let him deny 
himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” 28 
It is only by doing violence to your passions and 
sinful inclinations that you can obtain the blessed 
reward of peace; for “The kingdom of heaven suff ereth 
violence, and the violent bear it away .”' 29 As is 
so beautifully said in the book of “The Imitation 
of Christ”: “In the cross is salvation. In the cross 
is life. In the cross protection from our foes. In the 
cross is strength of mind. In the cross is spiritual joy. 
In the cross, the sum of virtues. In the cross is perfect 
holiness. There is no saving for the soul, no hope of 
life eternal, save in the cross.” 30 O my brethren 
in Jesus Christ! look up to heaven; behold that 
glorious company, those thousands of martyrs of all 
ages, tender virgins, and young children, who suffered 
agonies of fire, and sword, and shame rather than scan¬ 
dalize the name of Christ; see all those holy men and 
women, clerical and lay, who lived here in trial and 
suffering, loving God and their neighbor, and giving 
edification. If after all they have done you will not 
make some exertion to atone for the scandal you have 
given, then acknowledge that you do not deserve to have 
a share with them in the kingdom of heaven. 

Merciful Jesus, who died upon the cross of shame 

28 Mark viii. 34. 80 Book II., Ch. 12. 

29 Matt. xi. 12. 







102 


ON SCANDAL 


for us, and who art now really present in the Blessed 
Sacrament, we kneel before Thee, and beg of Thee by 
the Precious Blood that flowed from Thy Sacred Heart 
to pardon all the scandal we have ever given. Pour 
out upon our sin-stained souls an abundance of that 
Precious Blood to cleanse them from all sin; give us 
all the grace to atone for the scandal we have given and 
the pain we have caused Thee; so that persevering to 
the end in our good resolutions we may merit to have a 
place in Thy kingdom', where Thou, O Jesus, dost reign 
with Thy Father and the Most Holy Spirit of Love. 
Amen. 


ON HELL 


“A land of misery and darkness, where the shadow 
of death, and no order, but everlasting horror dwell- 
eth.” (Job x. 22.) 


SYNOPSIS 

Christ came to make salvation easier.—God created all to be 
saved.—God is infinite love.—God made man.—Old and New 
Testaments full of instances of God’s love.—Christ the Lover of 
souls.—The sincerity of God’s will to save all men.—How re¬ 
concile this with eternal punishment?—Hell is a dogma of the 
Church.—Nothing more clearly revealed. Reasonable and just. 
—When first revealed.—Future life of reward and punishment 
known to all men.—Immortality of the soul believed by all men. 
No injustice.—This belief comes from primitive revelation.— 
People deny hell through mistaken pity.—Reason is terrified, 
but reasserts itself.—What is the punishment of hell? Is it 
eternal?—We cannot now realize our need of God.—Mortal sin 
at death.—God alone satisfies the soul.—The soul tries to go to 
God, but cannot.—Pain and fire.—What is hell fire?—Our 
Saviour says it is fire.—Dives and Lazarus.—St. Basil the 
Great on the diverse agonies of hell.—Everything must be 
given up for God.—First disorder in heaven.—Fear alone will 
not save.—There is a hell.—Father Faber on why hell should be 
preached.—Eternity.—What is it?—The human mind cannot 
comprehend eternity.—“There is no hell!”—God is love.—Take 
away hell, what then?—Law is inexorable.—Can man know bet¬ 
ter than God?—How could the bad go to heaven?—Will God 
pardon the damned ?-—Final prayer. 

There is not the least doubt in the mind of any 
Christian that our Lord and Saviour came on earth to 
teach all men an easier and more loving way of salva¬ 
tion than was known before His coming. Every Cath¬ 
olic knows and believes that the Eternal Father sent 
His only-begotten and co-equal Son into the world to 
die for all men: that all should have the benefit of that 
Redemption. “For there is one God,” says St. Paul, 
“and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ 

103 


104 


ON HELL 


Jesus, who gave Himself a redemption for all.” 1 

God created all men to be saved. He made them to 
know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him here in 
this world, and to be afterwards happy with Him for¬ 
ever in the next, as the Catechism teaches every child. 
As St. Paul again says: “He will have all men to be 
saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 2 

God is infinite love, and that love, existing from all 
eternity between the Eternal Father and His Son, is a 
Person—God the Holy Ghost. It was the love of 
God that went out to creatures, bringing into being 
the wonderful angelic intelligences; making and mold¬ 
ing and fashioning the mighty material universe of 
giant stars, and the beautiful planets and moons that 
revolve in the albpervading ether, surrounding and en¬ 
veloping all space. It was this love of God that pre¬ 
pared this earth for the coming of man, and when all 
things were ready, said: “Let us make man to Our 
image and likeness; and let him have dominion over 
the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and the 
beasts, and the whole earth; and every creeping crea¬ 
ture that moveth upon the earth. And God created 
man to Iiis own image.” 3 The Old, as well as the 
New Testament, is full of instances showing forth the 
love of God for man: “I am the Lord thy God . . . 
showing mercy unto thousands, to them that love Me 
and keep My commandments.” 4 “O the Lord, the 
Lord God, merciful and gracious, patient and of much 
compassion, and true!” is said in the Book of Exodus. 5 
David the prophet, King of Israel, says: “The earth is 
full of the mercy of the Lord.” 6 “The Lord is sweet 
to all: and His tender mercies are over all His 
works.” 7 In the Book of Wisdom we read: “Thou 

1 1 . Tim. ii. 5, 6. 

2 1 . Tim. ii. 4. 

3 Gen. i. 26, 27. 

4 Ex. xx. 26. 


6 Ex. xxxiv. 6. 

0 Ps. xxxii. 2-5. 

7 Ps. cxliv. 9. 


ON HELL 


105 


hast mercy upon all, because Thou canst do all things, 
and overlookest the sins of men for the sake of re¬ 
pentance. For Thou lovest all things that are, and 
hatest none of the things which Thou hast made: for 
Thou didst not appoint, or make anything hating it. 
And how could anything endure, if Thou wouldst 
not? or be preserved, if not called by Thee? But 
Thou sparest all; because they are Thine, O Lord, 
who lovest souls.” 8 

And in the New Testament, the Gospel message of 
God’s love for men, our divine Saviour is brought be¬ 
fore us as the great Pardoner of sin and the great 
Lover of souls. Witness the parable of the Prodigal 
Son, the parable of the Good Shepherd, who gives his 
life for his sheep. “There shall be joy in heaven,” He 
says, “upon one sinner that doth penance, more than 
upon ninety-nine just who need not penance.” 9 

He Himself tells us the very will of His Father, 
who sent Him on earth: “This is the will of the 
Father who sent Me: that of all that He hath given 
Me, I should lose nothing; but should raise it up again 
in the last day. And this is the will of My Father 
that sent Me: that every one who seeth the Son, and 
believeth in Him, may have life everlasting, and I will 
raise him up in the last day.” 10 

These are proofs enough, yet many more could be 
brought forward, to show that God our Father wills 
the damnation of no man. “Is it My will that a sin¬ 
ner should die, saith the Lord, and not that he 
should be converted from his ways and live ?” 11 
“Wherefore,” says St. Augustine, “incomprehensible 
is the love wherewith God loveth, neither changeable. 
For He did not begin to love us then first when we 
were reconciled to Him by the blood of His Son; not 
so, but before the foundation of the world He loved 

8 Wis. xi. 24-27. 10 John vi. 39, 40. 

0 Luke xv. 7. 11 Ezech. xix. 23. 


io6 


ON HELL 


us, that together with His Only-Begotten we also 
should be His sons, before we were anything at all.” 12 

St. Gregory the Great says: “Our Redeemer offers 
a holocaust for us without ceasing, who without inter¬ 
mission exhibits to the Father His Incarnation in our 
behalf. For His very Incarnation is itself the offer¬ 
ing for our purification, and while He shows Him¬ 
self as man, He is the Intercessor that washes out 
man’s misdeeds, and in the mystery of His Humanity 
He offers up a perpetual sacrifice.’’ 13 

From these statements of the Old and New Testa¬ 
ments, and from the Fathers of the Church, showing 
the wonderful love of God for sinners, we can easily 
see that He really, sincerely, and truly wishes all men 
to be saved. How then do we reconcile all that has 
been said with a belief in the eternity of punishment, 
or, in other words, with the doctrine of hell? 

As surely as is the existence of God, as lovingly 
as He has promised the eternal joys of heaven to the 
good, so just as surely and as forcibly has He threat¬ 
ened the impenitent sinner with the eternal fire of 
hell. 

This dogma of the Church, revealed to us by God, 
is the most salutary and terrible truth of our faith: 
there is a hell! We are as sure of it as that there 
is a God, for nothing has been more openly and more 
clearly revealed; and the meek and forgiving Jesus 
proclaims it in His Gospel as many as fifteen times. 
Not only is it revealed by God Himself, but it is sup¬ 
ported by the dictates of reason. The existence of 
hell is in harmony with the ideas of justice engraven 
on the human heart. Revealed in the beginning to 
our first parent Adam, this dreadful truth has been 
handed down through all the ages. The belief in a 

12 On the Gospel of St. John, 13 On Job, Book I. No. 24. 
Tract, no, No. 6. 


ON HELL 


IO; 

future life, where the good are rewarded and the 
wicked punished, is as old as mankind and as wide¬ 
spread as are men on the earth; it is found among the 
most primitive and barbarous savages who have only 
a glimmering of religious light. It may be, and 
indeed often is, distorted and twisted from the original 
revelation; but there it is, in one way or another, 
among all men. 

The very pagans of the civilized nations retained 
their belief in this future of rewards and punish¬ 
ments, although their knowledge of the one true God 
was destroyed; the ancient heretics of the Church, 
the Jews and the Mohammedans, have never denied 
it. It is, as has been said, implanted in the very 
heart of man; for otherwise there would be annihila¬ 
tion, and the whole nature of man rebels against 
such an idea. The immortality of the soul is a truth 
believed in by the most primitive of men, as is at¬ 
tested by what is found in their tombs. 

The ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks and 
Romans believed in immortality, and in rewards and 
punishments after death. “I shall not entirely die,” 
exclaims the pagan Roman poet Horace, “the greater 
part of me shall escape oblivion.” “In my better 
part I shall be raised to immortality above the lofty 
stars, and my name shall never die,” says the Roman 
poet Ovid, also a pagan. The very idea of immor¬ 
tality shows us, that if there is a state of eternal re¬ 
ward so there must be also a state of eternal punish¬ 
ment; for at death the soul passes beyond the limits 
of time and the condition of probation, enters the 
portals of eternity and is fixed forever without 
change. 

Our divine Saviour says: “I say to you, My 
friends, be not afraid of them who kill the body, 
and after that have no more that they can do. But 



io8 


ON HELL 


I will show you whom you shall fear: fear ye Him, 
who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into 
hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him.” 14 

The meek and gentle Jesus, who came to save all 
men, and gave up His life in shame and agony upon 
the cross to prove His love for souls, tells us clearly 
and distinctly what He will say on the last day to 
those who did not obey His law. I repeat: He who 
came down from heaven in obedience to the will of 
His Father; who lived a life of humiliation and denial 
of all this world holds dear; who died in shame upon 
the cross amidst scoffing and jeering, will issue the 
dreadful sentence: “Depart from me, you cursed, 
into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil 
and his angels.” 15 

It is terrible to think of this, but there is no in¬ 
justice involved in it. Listen to what God says by 
His prophet Ezechiel: “If the just man turn him¬ 
self away from his justice and do iniquity according 
to all the abominations which the wicked man useth 
to work, shall he live? All his justices which he 
hath done shall not be remembered; in the prevari¬ 
cation, by which he hath prevaricated, and in his sin, 
which he hath committed, in them he shall die.” 16 
St. Basil the Great says in reference to this judg¬ 
ment: “Whenever the desire to sin cometh on thee, 
I would that thou couldst think of the awful and 
overwhelming judgment-seat of Christ. There the 
Judge shall sit upon a throne high and lifted up. 
Every creature shall stand before Him, quaking be¬ 
cause of the glory of His presence. There are we 
to be led up, one by one, to give an account of those 
things which we have done in life.” 17 

And remember that this Judge is the very same 
Saviour who died on Calvary! “For,” says St. Au- 

16 Ezech. xix. 24. 

17 Sermon on Psalm xxxiii. 


14 Luke xii. 4, 5. 

15 Matt. xxv. 41. 










ON HELL 


109 


, gustine, “in vain certain, or rather very many, with 
) human feelings compassionate the eternal punishment 
of the damned, and their continual torments without 
1 intermission, and so believe not that it will take place: 
1 not indeed in the way of opposing themselves to the 
r divine Scriptures, but by softening, according to their 
) own feelings, all the hard sayings, and by turning 
> into a more gentle meaning such things in them as 
they think to be said rather to excite terror than as 
the true.” 18 

St. John Chrysostom says: “Therefore, let me 
warn you we have nothing in common with heaven, but 
our citizenship goes no farther than words. And 
yet because of this, God hath threatened even hell, 
not in order to cast us therein, but that He might 
persuade us to flee this grievous tyranny. But we do 
the opposite and run each day the way that leads 
thither; and while God is commanding us not only to 
hear, but also to do what He saith, we do not 
submit so much as to hearken. When then, I pray 
thee, are we to do what is commanded, and to put 
our hand to the works, if we do not endure so much 
as to hear the words that relate to them?” 19 

It is said in “The Imitation of Christ”: “This 
seems to many a hard saying, ‘Deny thyself: take 
up thy cross and follow Jesus.’ But far harder will 
it be to hear that final word: ‘Depart from Me, ye 
cursed, into everlasting fire.’ For those who gladly 
now hear the word of the cross and follow it then 
will not fear to hear eternal condemnation.” 20 

We have said that all mankind, at all times, and 
in all places believed, and now believe, in the existence 
of a state of future rewards and punishments for deeds 
performed in this life. We may now ask: Whence 
has this universal belief come, so contrary, as far as 

18 Enchiridion, No. 29. Gospel of St. Matthew. 

19 Sermon 1, No. 15, On the 20 Book II. Ch. 12. 


110 


ON HELL 


punishment is concerned, to the wishes of men? The 
answer is: It must come from a primitive revelation 
of God. 

St. Mark, quoting- the words of our divine Saviour, 
speaks of “the hell of unquenchable fire, where their 
worm dieth not and the fire is not extinguished.” 21 

And yet there are people who deny this doctrine, 
who scoff at the words of God, and who try, as St. 
Augustine has just said, by mistaken pity to make 
the fear nugatory and useless. They are firmly con¬ 
vinced that those who are good shall go into life ever¬ 
lasting, but balk at the idea of the wicked going into 
the fire everlasting. “Come, ye blessed of My Father, 
possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foun¬ 
dation of the world,” 22 is very consoling, and just what 
we should expect from our heavenly Father; but when 
it comes to: “Depart from Me ye cursed, into ever¬ 
lasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his 
angels,” 23 we have a different story, and a wholly 
different construction is placed on the words. Surely 
it is just that if heaven is an eternal reward for those 
who have worked for it, it is in accordance with justice 
that hell should be the punishment of those who have 
deserved it. It is a case of like to like: God for the 
good, the devil for the bad. 

At the thought of an everlasting hell, terrified rea¬ 
son is tempted to recoil; but when reason reasserts 
itself, it is bound to render homage to the judgments 
of an infinitely just God. 

But now, before proceeding further, let me explain 
the doctrine of the Church upon this terrifying article 
of our faith. 

It will not avail anything to be frightened by the 
stories of irresponsible persons, or by the exaggerated 
notions of those who speak of hell in order to render 

21 Mark ix. 44, 45. 23 Matt. xxv. 41. 

22 Matt. xxv. 34. 




ON HELL 


III 


the teaching of the Church in this matter odious in 
the sight of men. 

In what consists the punishment of hell, and is this 
punishment only temporary, or is it eternal? Such 
are the grave questions to which we now address our¬ 
selves. First and foremost, it is the pain of loss 
indicated by the sentence of the Judge: ‘‘Depart from 
MeC This is inexpressively the greatest pain of 
hell, for, as St. Augustine cries out to God from the 
bottom of his heart: “Thou awakest us to delight 
in Thy praise; for Thou madest us for Thyself, and 
our heart is restless*, until it repose in Thee.” 24 Thus 
he gave utterance to the pent-up cry of the whole hu¬ 
man race. The soul yearns for God, nothing will 
satisfy its intense longing but God. It is a bound¬ 
less ocean of desire, that can find its shores only in 
the possession of God; it is a bottomless chasm which 
can be filled only by the Lord God; it is a groping in 
utter darkness when God is absent, for “to reach God 
is happiness itself. He is light itself; we get enlight¬ 
enment from Him.” 25 

In this life we cannot fully realize the absolute and 
pressing need we have of God. Weighed down, as 
the soul is, by its connection with the body, and dis¬ 
tracted by the things of sense, it is not fully capable 
of appreciating the beauty of God. It is true that 
all the beautiful things we can see or hear or imagine 
in this world are merely the faintest shadows of God, 
for “all things were made by Him; and without Him 
was made nothing that was made.” 20 But when the 
distractions of earth have passed away; when the soul 
shall have put off its earthly envelope ; when “that which 
is mortal shall be swallowed up by life”; 127 when the 
soul is alone with God, then indeed it flies to Him, 

24 Conf. Book I. No. i. 26 John i. 43. 

25 St. Augustine, Against the 27 II. Cor. v. 4. 

Manichaeans, No. 11. 


112 


ON HELL 


for He alone can fill its immense void: He alone 
can satisfy its desires. St. Paul says: “We see now 
through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to 
face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know 
even as I am known.” 28 

What if the guilt of mortal sin be upon the soul 
when it leaves the body? O God! what a terrible 
and terrifying thought! The soul rushes to God, and 
is rejected: “Depart from Me!” That soul when 
created was intended for heaven; from all eternity it 
lived in the mind of God, as the design lives in the mind 
of the architect, and now it is rejected and damned! 
O heavenly Father, what an ending! For all eternity 
its essential desire will go unsatisfied; always desir¬ 
ing, yet always a rebel; its nature incessantly strives 
to rise to God, but its guilt and its rebellion hold it 
down, and the sentence is never revoked: “Depart 
from Me.” 

And what adds greater bitterness, if possible, to 
this loss is the knowledge that it could have been so 
easily avoided. For the sake of a few, passing, tem¬ 
poral pleasures or advantages God has been lost for 
all eternity! “jFor,” says St. Augustine, “one who 
seeks what he cannot obtain suffers torture. ... For 
if happiness consists in the enjoyment of a good, how 
can a man be properly called happy when he has not 
yet attained to his chief good?” 29 

Happiness cannot be found on earth; go where you 
will, you will not find it; amass all the treasures of 
the world, and they will not give it; seek all the earthly 
pleasures you can, and they will turn to ashes like 
dead-sea fruit. No finite mind can conceive the 
beauty of the infinite God; no finite tongue can tell 
how fully He satisfies the deepest desires and the 
most earnest yearning of souls. 

28 1 . Cor. xiii. 12. 29 Against the Manichaeans, 

Chap. III. Nos. 4, 5. 




ON HELL 


113 

St. Paul, who was himself wrapt up into heaven, tells 
us: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it 
entered into the heart of man, what things God hath 
prepared for them that love Him.” 30 

Ah, yes! for them that love Him God has prepared 
the greatest delights, but for them that love Him not 
He has prepared corresponding punishment. 

Listen to what the gentle and learned Father Faber 
has to say upon the loss of God, which although given 
in beautiful language is as rigidly true as a treatise 
in theology. He says: “The whole beauty of crea¬ 
tion is in the presence of the Creator; the lives, the 
hopes, the joys, the possibilities of men simply exist 
in the benediction of His compassionate presence. 
What would the world be but sheer hell, if it were 
reduced to the three bare necessities of His immensity, 
in essence, presence, and power? It will increase our 
reverence to think of this. We shall value every 
faintest token of God’s dear presence more and more, 
when we see that the absence of it is no less a misery 
than hell. Yet how many men live without God in 
the world, and care nothing for it, and are happy, 
all because God is more gracious with them than they 
know of, and visits them with a sunny presence which 
they perceive not nor understand! So little is the 
pain of sense, intensely horrible as it may be, com¬ 
pared with the pain of loss that hell may be shortly 
described as the one cavern of creation from which 
the inexorable majesty of God withdraws all presence, 
save and except the necessities of His immensity. 
Let us put aside the curtain of vindictive fire, and see 
what this pain of loss is like, for it fortunately sur¬ 
passes human imagination to conceive its dire reality. 
Suppose we could see the huge planets and the pon¬ 
derous stars whirling their terrific masses with awful, 
and if it might be so, clamorous velocity, and thunder- 

80 1 . Cor. ii. 9. 



ON HELL 


14 

ing through the fields of unresisting space with furi¬ 
ous gigantic momentum, such as the mighty avalanche 
most feebly figures, and thus describing with chaf¬ 
ing eccentricities and frightful deflections, their mighty 
centre-seeking and centre-flying circles, we should be¬ 
hold in the nakedness of its tremendous operations 
the divine law of gravitation. Thus, in like manner, 
should we see the true relations between God and our¬ 
selves, the true meaning and worth of His beneficent 
presence, if we could behold a lost soul at the mo¬ 
ment of its final and judicial reprobation, a few mo¬ 
ments after its separation from the body and in all 
the strength of its disembodied vigor and the fierce¬ 
ness of its penal immortality.” 31 

Yes, the soul tries, of its own nature, to go to 
God; it tries to break through the prison-bars of its 
loss; it is attracted to God a thousand times more 
strongly than, by the law of gravitation, the smaller 
body is attracted by the larger. It bounds up to God 
and is dashed down again, for the sentence is: “De¬ 
part from Me.” In rage and blasphemy it would 
dethrone Him, and it cannot; in agony it would suf¬ 
focate its terrible thirst for Him, and it cannot; in 
fury and frenzy it would fain break its fetters of 
fire, and it cannot. O God, my God, what a terrible 
loss is the loss of Thee! To be without Thee is the 
supreme loss—the greatest punishment of hell; to pos¬ 
sess Thee—the highest reward of heaven. 

I have laid stress upon this loss of God, because 
this is the torture of hell beyond all other pains. 
Never again to see God; never, never to be with Him; 
never, never to enjoy Him. O God, my God, save 
me, save me, save me from this terrible calamity, 
No wonder David cried out: “O God, my God. For 
Thee my soul hath thirsted; for Thee my flesh, O how 
many ways.” 32 

31 “The Blessed Sacrament,” 32 Ps. lxii. 2. 
page 372. 




ON HELL 



US 


Besides the loss of God, there is the secondary 
pain of sense, the cause producing this pain being 
fire: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting 
fire,” is the sentence. Now, most men are apt to be 
influenced by this secondary pain, rather than by the 
primary one—the loss of God. We have just said 
that this loss of God is really the greatest punishment, 
if we only pause for a moment and think. Yet, as 
we are very much affected by the material things which 
surround us, Christ our Lord has taken the material 
image of fire, as being that by which the lost soul is 
punished. 

Fire is indeed a terrible element, and it produces 
fear and horror in men. There are, no doubt, other 
agonizing sufferings brought about by other things in 
the world, but fire is commonly accepted as that which 
produces the greatest pain. To be slowly roasted 

I upon a gridiron by its very thought causes one to 
shudder in horror. Which of you would willingly 
hold a finger for even a minute over a burning candle ? 
No one can bear a spark of fire for a moment upon 

I his naked flesh. Fire eats up everything with which 
it comes in contact, and if the object be a human 
body, it shrivels it up, penetrating even to the marrow 
of the bones. 

What can be this fire of which our Saviour speaks? 
The Church has never pronounced a definition con¬ 
cerning the nature of this fire. Flowever, as far as 
the terrific punishment is concerned, it makes but little 
difference how we refine this fire, or how we define 
it. “It is the certain and Catholic opinion,” says 
Suarez, the great Jesuit theologian, 'that fire which 
was prepared for the devil and his angels is a true 
and proper corporal fire.” Of one thing we may be 
sure, that earthly fire, as we know it, cannot possibly 
have any influence upon disembodied spirits, for the 
soul is a spirit and earthly fire is matter. But then 






n6 


ON HELL 


there is the essence of fire, and this essence can be 
an instrument of punishment in the hands of God. 
“For,” as St. Augustine says, “as soon as those who 
are not written in the book of life have been judged 
and cast into eternal fire—the nature of which, or 
its position in the world or universe, I suppose is 
known to no man, unless perhaps the divine Spirit 
reveal it to some one.” 33 

Our Saviour distinctly says on several occasions 
that there is fire in hell, and the gentle St. John 
mentions it more than once in the Apocalypse. 

The sensation of burning is the greatest agony known 
co man, and it is very evidently this which our Sav¬ 
iour threatens to those who are unrepentant. 

Of course, you will understand that this punishment 
of fire, as well as the other agonies of the damned, 
is inflicted upon the soul alone, before the general 
resurrection of bodies on the last day. 

The body without the soul is wholly incapable of 
pleasure or pain. The reason you hear me is be¬ 
cause the sound of my voice striking upon your sense 
of hearing brings that sensation to your brain, and 
ultimately to your soul; and so it is that although I 
am using my faculty of speech by the organ of the 
tongue, yet in the last analysis it is my soul speaking 
by means of the bodily organ to your soul by means 
of your sense of hearing. We come into contact with 
the world around us by means of our senses; it is 
impossible, constituted as we now are, to know any¬ 
thing except by means of the senses. And so the 
seat of all pleasure and pain is the soul; the corpse 
feels nothing, knows nothing, experiences nothing. 
Now, if we transfer this reasoning to the disembodied 
soul, we can easily see how it is capable of experi¬ 
encing all the kinds of pleasure or pain without the 
body; for the soul animates the body, gives it life, 

33 “The City of God,” Book xx. No. 16. 




ON HELL 


ii 7 

and is itself whole and entire, needing not the body 
for its action. What follows from this? It follows 
clearly that the soul condemned to hell suffers in all 
its powers, or if I may say so, it suffers as if it 
were united to the body with its senses. That is the 
reason why our Saviour speaks in the parable of the 
rich man who went to hell asking for water to quench 
the fire on his tongue, for he cried out and said: 
“Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Laz¬ 
arus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water 
to cool my tongue: for I am tormented in this 
flame.” 34 Now, neither of these men was in the 
body, and our Saviour speaks of water, tongue, finger, 
and fire, and that not merely as a figure of speech, but 
as pointing out that the soul alone suffers all agonies 
in hell. 

Listen to what one of the great early ascetics of 
the Church, St. Basil the Great, says on this point: 
“Think,” he says, “of the bottomless pit, the impene¬ 
trable darkness, the lightless fire, burning, but not 
glowing; the poisonous mass of worms preying upon 
the soul, ever feeding, and never filled, causing by 
their gnawing unbearable agony; lastly the greatest 
punishment of all, shame and confusion forever. 
Have a dread of these things, and let that dread cor¬ 
rect thee, and be as a curb to thy mind to hold it in 
from the hankering after sin.” 35 No wonder St. 
Paul says: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands 
of the living God.” 30 

No matter how near and dear anything may be to 
you, if it lead you away from God, you cannot have 
it and expect to be saved. God’s law is paramount; 
He never grants dispensation to anybody; it is bind¬ 
ing always and everywhere; if anything is as dear to 
us as a hand, or a foot, or an eye, we must cut it off 

34 Luke xvi. 24. 36 Heb. x. 31. 

35 Sermon on Psalm xxxiii. 




n8 


ON HELL 


rather than be damned. Here are the words of our 
Saviour: “If thy hand scandalize thee, cut it off; 
it is better for thee to enter into life, maimed, than 
having two hands to go into hell, into unquenchable 
fire: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not 
extinguished. And if thy foot scandalize thee, cut 
it off. It is better for thee to enter lame into life 
everlasting, than having two feet, to be cast into the 
hell of unquenchable fire: where their worm dieth not, 
and the fire is not extinguished. And if thy eye 
scandalize thee, pluck it out. It is better for thee 
with one eye to enter into the kingdom of God, than 
having two eyes to be cast into the fire of hell: Where 
their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished. 
For everyone shall be salted with fire.” 37 

Can any words be more explicit than these? Our 
Saviour speaks of unextinguished fire six times, and 
of the worm that does not die three times. And yet 
He came to save men, and to show His love for them 
He died upon the cross! This fire, then, is lit up by 
the anger of a just God; of Him who is styled by our 
Saviour our Father in heaven! O God, what must 
unrepentant sin be that brings about a result of this 
kind; what must Thou think of an unrepentant sin¬ 
ner! Calvary and hell—what a contrast! Our eter¬ 
nal Father and a lost soul—what a thought! 

“The rebellion of the angel was the first disorder, 
the first evil, and the first sin. It was the origin of 
all sin, of all the evil and of all the disorder which was 
to fall upon creation, and especially upon the human 
race, through subsequent ages; for when the fallen 
angel, who was now deprived of light and beauty, 
saw the man and woman in paradise, so pure, so lus¬ 
trous, and so beautiful with the splendors of grace, he 
felt the deepest dejection at the sight of an excellence 
which he had lost, and instantly formed the design 
37 Mark ix. 42-48. 






ON HELL 119 

of involving them in his condemnation, since he could 
not be equal to them in glory.” 38 

So we see it was rebellion in heaven, rebellion on 
earth; damnation for the angel, damnation for un¬ 
repentant man! All this is terrible enough, and yet 
when we use our own reason, we see that there is 
more to come, for the soul is punished as if it were 
already joined with the body—I am now speaking of 
judgment immediately after death. The sight is used 
to see the most terrifying and fearful visions—visions 
which have no parallel on earth; the hearing is filled 
with the most frightful blasphemies, oaths, curses and 
the foulest language, together with groans and sounds 
the most heart-rending; the sense of smell is incred¬ 
ibly nauseated by the foul stench of hell. Imagine, if 
you can, the foul odor coming from millions and mil¬ 
lions of decaying bodies, all heaped up in a putrefy¬ 
ing, worm-crawling mass! The fire penetrates every 
soul, even as salt penetrates water, and becomes a 
part of it. There is the fearful feeling of suffoca¬ 
tion; all the most loathsome and most painful dis¬ 
eases must be in hell. For the soul has sinned by 
means of its senses, and on the last day the body too 
will share in the punishments of that soul. 

As a great writer has said: “There is a frightful 
place, the abode of horror, fear, and suffering, where 
there is insatiable thirst and perpetual hunger without 
relief; where no light ever gladdens the eyes, nor 
peaceful sounds reach the ear; where all is agitation 
without repose, weeping without intermission, and 
grief without consolation. There, all may enter, but 
none may depart. There, hope dies, but memory is 
immortal. The limits of this place are known to God 
alone, and these torments are uninterrupted and end¬ 
less in duration.” 39 

38 Cortes, “Essay on Cathol- 39 Cortes, page 148. 
icism,” page 145. 


120 


ON HELL 


Perhaps some of you may think that I am drawing 
on my imagination in order to simply frighten you, 
but the man that is only frightened is no better than 
a coward, and but little removed from a slave; that 
man will never get to heaven, for he has no love for 
God. Do not fear hell, “but rather fear Him that 
can destroy both soul and body into hell.” 40 If “the 
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” 41 the 
mere fear of hell is the end of foolishness. 

To strengthen what I said a few moments ago as 
regards the punishments of hell, listen to what St. 
Augustine says: “That person is said to perish from 
God, who by way of punishment is separated from 
the blessedness He giveth to His saints; but the di¬ 
versity of the punishment is as great as the diversity 
of sin. And what is the nature of this diversity, the 
divine Wisdom judgeth more deeply than human con¬ 
jecture can explore or express.” 42 

Again, St. John says: “The smoke of their tor¬ 
ments shall ascend up for ever and ever; neither have 
they rest day nor night.” 43 Again, Isaias the pro¬ 
phet says: “Their worm shall not die, and their fire 
shall not be quenched; and they shall be a loathsome 
sight to all flesh.” 44 David says: “They shall suffer 
hunger like dogs.” 45 

Ah! there is a hell; as truly as the sun shines, as 
truly as the moon pours down her silvery beams upon 
the earth, as surely as the myriad stars, thrown from 
the beneficent Creator upon the vast ocean of ether, 
revolve in their unerring orbits, as certain as that we 
are alive and walking upon this familiar earth, so 
certain is the terrible reality of hell. 

“We are told to be chary,” says Father Faber, “in 

40 Matt. x. 28. 43 Apoc. xiv. 11. 

44 Ps ry TO 44 T<5 lyvi "?/l 

42 On the Gospel of St. John, «p s _ i v iH. 7.' 

Tract. 89, No. 4. 


ON HELL 


121 


bringing hell forward, inasmuch as in these days it 
angers men rather than cows them, and is suggestive 
of temptations against the faith and of irritabilities 
against God’s dominion and sovereignty. But at this 
rate, we may go on keeping back first one part of 
God’s revelation, and then another. Each has some 
portion of divine truth, of which it is especially im¬ 
patient. God knew all this when He gave revelation 
to man. He does not bring forward a dispensation 
every century. He does not give each generation a 
bible of its own. He does not condescend so far to 
the noisy trivialities which strut across history, and call 
themselves the spirit of the age.” 46 

It is of divine faith that there is a hell for those 
who die unrepentant; that those who go there are 
in some mysterious way punished by fire, and in dif¬ 
ferent degrees and ways according as they have 
sinned in this life; that the loss of God is beyond and 
above all the supreme pain of hell; and finally that 
this loss and these pains are eternal. 

O eternity—what a thought! Who can fathom or 
plumb the depths of eternity! To be always living 
and never to die! Never, never to end! What a 
bliss this must be when we think of the joys of 
heaven! What a terrible thought it is when we con¬ 
template the pains of hell! Here we have the rising 
and the setting of the sun; the changes of the seasons; 
the coming and going of the birds, and the fruits and 
flowers; the succession of days and nights. We meet 
our friends and we go out to our work in the morning, 
and return to our families in the evening, and we eat 
and sleep, and have alternations of joy and sorrow, 
and we are born, grow up, and die. Human life is 
change; but what is eternity? 

St. Augustine answers the question. “’Eternity,” 
he says, “is an everlasting to-day, which neither hath 

« “Spiritual Conferences,” page 357- 





122 


ON HELL 


a yesterday going before, nor a to-morrow forming 
its close.” 47 “Who shall hold it, and fix it, that it may 
be settled awhile, and awhile catch the glory of that 
ever-fixed eternity, and compare it with the times which 
are never fixed, and see that it cannot be compared; 
and that a long time cannot become long, but out 
of many notions passing by, which cannot be pro¬ 
longed together; but that in the Eternal, nothing 
passeth, but the whole is present; whereas no time is 
all at once present; and that all time past is driven on 
by time to come, and all to come followeth upon the 
past; and all past and to come is created, and flows 
out of that which is never present? Who shall hold 
the heart of man, that it may stand still, and see how 
eternity ever still-standing, neither past nor to come, 
uttereth the time past and to come?” 48 

The human mind can form no idea of eternity. 
Yet this is the state into which souls enter after death. 
O God, it is overpowering! Never, never; always, 
always; no yesterday; no to-morrow; always, and 
eternally now! The votaries of the world cry out: 
There is no hell; just as “the fool hath said in his 
heart: There is no God. They are corrupt, and are 
become abominable in their ways." 49 The cry that 
there is no hell can come only from those who are 
in danger of going there, “for,” says St. John Chry¬ 
sostom, “to remember hell prevents our falling into 
it .” 50 “The wish is the father to the thought” 
(Shakespeare). There is no hell, is the cry of the 
adulterer, of the impure, of the drunkard, of the blas¬ 
phemer, of the avaricious and grinder of the poor, 
of the colossal robber, of the liar and the hypocrite, of 
the apostate, of the worldling. 

God is infinite Love and infinite Mercy, and the 

47 On the Gospel of St. John, 49 Ps. xiii. i. 

Tract, xxxi. No. 5. Sermon XXXI. Verse 15. 

48 Conf. Book XI. No. 11. 


ON HELL 


r-rj 

same God is infinite Justice, because there are no 
parts in God. The same God of infinite Goodness 
tells us that He will condemn to hell those who per¬ 
sist in disobeying Him and die in that rebellion. Take 
away hell and you destroy the sanction of His law, 
just as much as if you take away heaven. 

In the material order law in inexorable; those who 
obey are benefited; those who disobey are punished. 
Fire burns, water drowns, diseases attack the good 
and the bad; cold and heat, hunger and thirst affect 
all. Those who take care of themselves are preserved, 
those who do not are destroyed. So in like manner, 
with the grace of God, which is always forthcoming, 
those who do right are saved; those who do wrong are 
lost. Punishment necessarily comes from sin; if we 
set aside the law, we must lose the benefits of it. 

Can man know better what is good for him than 
God? Can he of himself work independently of God; 
can he determine his own destiny? 

The law of God is founded upon the divine na¬ 
ture; it is given to help and preserve us, and bring 
us to happiness and perfection; and is based upon the 
very nature of things. Could it be possible that the 
all-holy God would allow in His presence, in the com¬ 
pany of His holy Mother and in that of the angels 
and saints, sinners as we see them all around us? 
What would they be doing in heaven with Jesus, Mary 
and Joseph; with the angels and archangels; with the 
martyrs and confessors of the faith, and all the holy 
men and women who are there? Could Michael con¬ 
sort with Lucifer? Could the angels unite with the 
devils? Could the good make free with the bad? 
What kind of a heaven would that be? It is unthink¬ 
able, for heaven is the kingdom of love, and hell the 
kingdom of hatred. But some say that God at some 
future time, if we may use the expression, dealing 
as we are with eternity, will pardon* forgive, purify 


124 


ON HELL 


the lost souls. Ah! we have no warrant for this; we 
cannot know better than Christ, and He uses the ex¬ 
pression, “everlasting fire.” 

When the soul leaves the body it passes beyond 
time; there is then no succession of events, and if 
found then at enmity with God, there can possibly be 
no change, for it is now at enmity with Him, and that 
now is eternal. Hear what St. John Chrysostom says 
on this subject; the golden-mouthed orator is preach¬ 
ing upon the words of Christ: “Depart into the fire 
prepared for the devil and his angels.” And this is 
what he says: “Now if there be no hell, then neither 
is he [the devil] punished. But if he is punished it 
is plain that we also, such as do his works, shall 
be punished. For, such as do his works have dis¬ 
obeyed, even if it be not in the same way. And how 
comest thou not to be afraid to speak such daring 
things? For when thou sayest that God is merciful, 
and doth not punish, if He should punish He will be 
found in thy case to be no longer merciful. See then 
into what language the devil leadeth you. For if the 
wicked are not to be punished, and there is no re¬ 
compense made to any one, some one else will say, 
perhaps, that neither are the good crowned. Nay, it 
will be said, for this is suitable with God that there 
should be a kingdom only, and not a hell. Well then, 
the fornicator, and the adulterer, and the man who 
hath done evils unnumbered, enjoy the same advant¬ 
ages with the man who hath exhibited soberness and 
holiness; and Paul is to stand with Nero, or rather 
even the devil with Paul? For if there be no hell, 
and yet a resurrection of all will be certain, then the 
wicked shall attain to the same good things with the 
righteous. These things are not so, surely they are 
not! Deceive not yourselves, beloved.” 51 

We are divinely assured that “God is love.” In 
51 Sermon XXXI., On Romans, verse 15. 


ON HELL 


125 


many places in the Old and New Testaments God 
tells us we were created to know Him, love Him, serve 
Him, and to be happy with Him forever; if anything 
is sure, this is. It is more certain than our own ex¬ 
istence; than the very ground we walk upon, and 
more lasting than the eternal hills. It is God’s prom¬ 
ise to us, and He never fails. “As I live, saith the 
Lord God: I desire not the death of the wicked, but 
that the wicked turn from his way and live.” 52 God 
is our Father; we are His children: “As a father 
hath compassion on his children, so hath the Lord 
compassion on them that fear Him: for He knoweth 
our frame. He remembereth that we are dust.” 53 
Abandon sin, for it is a terrible evil in itself, and in 
its consequences: “Let the wicked forsake his way, 
and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return 
to the Lord God, and He will have mercy on him, 
and to our God: for He is bountiful to forgive.” 54 

O Lord God, who didst die for us, look down, we 
beseech Thee, upon Thy children. Thou, O Jesus, 
who art really and truly present here on this altar, 
bless us and save us from hell. Give us the grace 
to keep away from sin; help us to lead holy lives 
here, that we may be with Thee forever in Thy king¬ 
dom of love hereafter. 

“O Lord, rebuke me not in Thy indignation, nor 
chastise me in Thy wrath. Have mercy on me, O 
Lord, for I am weak, heal me, O Lord, for my bones 
are troubled. And my soul is troubled exceedingly; 
but Thou, O Lord, how long? Turn to me, O Lord, 
and deliver my soul: O save me for Thy mercy’s 
sake. For there is no one in death, that is mindful of 
Thee; and who shall confess to Thee in hell ?” 55 

52 Ezech. xxxiii. II. 54 Is. lv. 7. 

> 53 Ps. cii. 13, 14 . 55 Ps - vi - r - 6 - 


ON PRAYER 


**» 


“Amen, amen, I say unto you: If you ask the 
Father anything in my name, He will give it you.” 
(John xvi. 23.) 


SYNOPSIS 

All men are bound to give time for prayer.—Sacrifice and 
prayer the tribute of the creature to the Creator.—'What is 
prayer?—Goodness of God in allowing us to pray to Him.—God 
must first move us to prayer.—Our strength is in prayer.—The 
example of Christ in prayer.—The Apostles on prayer.—Grace 
is necessary, for salvation: got through prayer.—We must co¬ 
operate.—As breathing is necessary, so prayer.—Prayer is as 
necessary as our heart.—We can overcome the world by prayer. 
—Prayer in trouble and trial.—All sinners lose merit.—God 
wishes the sinner to be saved.—Men are blameworthy for neglect¬ 
ing this means of salvation.—The prayers of the Publican and 
the Pharisee.—Perseverance through prayer.—Prayer is the 
greatest power in the world.—Proper dispositions.—Prayer has 
rescued many from hell.—The conversion of St. Paul by the 
prayer of St. Stephen.—St. Monica.—St. Augustine on his 
mother’s prayers for him.—Prayer enkindles and increases love 
in the soul.—Why do not men use it more frequently?—To work 
is to pray.—Use prayer and you will be saved. 

My dear Brethren : That every man is bound 
to give a certain portion of his life directly to the 
worship of God is a truth which no one who be¬ 
lieves in Him and His providence will deny. All are 
bound to this greatest of obligations, because God is 
our beginning and our end. “Know ye that the Lord 
He is God; He made us, and not we ourselves.” 1 
We were created by Him, and by Him shall we be 
judged. “Come let us adore and fall down, and weep 
before the Lord that made us. For He is the Lord 

1 Ps. xcix. 3. 


126 


ON PRAYER 


127 

our God; and we are the people of His pasture and 
the sheep of His hand.” 2 Every good gift we have 
ever received came from His fatherly hand. St. 
James the Apostle says: “Every best gift, and every 
perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the 
Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor 
shadow nor alteration.” 3 The ordinary and proper 
method of adoring God is by sacrifice and prayer; 
these two actions are the tribute of the creature to the 
Creator; of the finite to the Infinite, of the needy to 
the Bountiful. In this sermon I shall not speak of 
sacrifices in the strict meaning, because it would 
bring me to the only real sacrifice ever offered to God 
—the Mass, but I shall try to place before you for 
your consideration and practise the other great duty—• 
namely, prayer. You are told by the voice of di¬ 
vine Truth “to render to God the things that are 
God’s,” 4 and the same voice says: “Thou shalt adore 
the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” 5 
What, then, is prayer? It is a petition made to 
God for the good things which He has promised us; 
an elevation of the soul to God, to represent to Him 
our indigence and to offer Him our homage.” G We 
must pray to Him to confess His supreme dominion 
over us and our whole dependence upon Him. Again, 
we must pray in all our necessities of soul and body, 
“for of Him, and by Him, and in Him, are all things: 
to Him be glory forever.” 7 He is most generous, 
and always ready to help, if we but ask Him: “Ask 
and it shall be given you: Seek, and you shall find: 
Knock, and it shall be opened to you. And all things 
whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you 
shall receive.” 8 In the many and great difficulties, 

2 Ps. xciv. 6, 7. 

3 James i. 1 7 - 

4 Mark xii. 17. 

5 Luke iv. 8. 


6 Ferraris. 

7 Rom. xi. 36. 

8 Matt. vii. 7. 



128 


ON PRAYER 


temptations, and dangers to which we are exposed 
in this world, these words of our blessed Lord, which 
I have spoken to you, bring great hope and strength. 
This is what Father Faber has to say in the matter 
of which we now are preaching: “Look at the in¬ 
credible ease of prayer. Every time, place, posture 
is fitting; for there is no time, place, or posture, in and 
by which we cannot reverently confess the presence 
of God. Talent is not needed. Eloquence is out of 
place. Dignity is no recommendation. Our want is 
our eloquence, our misery our recommendation. 
Thought is quick as lightning, and quick as lightning 
can it multiply effectual prayer. Actions can pray; 
sufferings can pray. There need be no ceremonies; 
there are no rubrics to keep. The whole function is 
expressed in a word; it is simply this—the child is 
at his Father’s knee, his words stumbling over each 
other from very earnestness, and his wistful! face 
speaking better than his hardly intelligible prayer.” 9 
How great, how wonderful the goodness of God to 
His creatures in not leaving them alone to grope blindly 
through life without any guide or help! He Himself 
has promised us assistance and guidance to direct our 
faltering and tottering footsteps on the road to life. 
But, although He is ever ready to do this, it is only 
upon one condition—namely, that we ask Him with 
the right dispositions. He has made prayer the means 
of receiving gifts from Him. “Ask and it shall be 
given you”; then, if you do not ask, nothing shall be 
given you. Of course, in order to pray God must first 
move us to it, for all grace comes from Him. For 
you cannot say the smallest or the least prayer with¬ 
out being moved to it by God the Holy Ghost. “No 
man,” says St. Paul, “can say the Lord Jesus, but 
by the Holy Ghost.” 10 In a word, prayer includes 
almost all the actions that come from the virtue of 

9 “All for Jesus,” page ioo. 10 I. Cor. xii. 3. 






ON PRAYER 


129 


religion. God made us; and not only that, but He 
has raised up our human nature by uniting it with 
His own; in prayer He asks us to unite ourselves 
with Him—each one for himself. Prayer is the high¬ 
est employment of the intelligence and will of man. 
If man is rightly called a reasonable being, with greater 
force can he be called a prayerful being. For no 
human being ever was, or ever will be, without prayer 
of some form or other. It has been and is used by 
the lowest races of men; it has been and is the source 
of the greatest consolation and strength to the great¬ 
est geniuses the world has ever known. As the poet 
says: 

More things are wrought by prayer 

Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice 

Rise like a fountain for me night and day. 

For what are men better than sheep or goats 
That nourish a blind life within the brain, 

If, knowing God, they lift not hands in prayer 

Both for themselves and those who call them friend? 11 

With prayer we shall be strong as the giant oak, 
defying the fiercest storms; without prayer we shall 
be as the pliant reed, shaken by every wind that blows. 
“Perhaps never while we are on earth shall we realize 
the heavenly might of prayer, nor the exceeding riches 
of that treasure which now, alas! we make so light 
of, seeing not how thereby God’s glory is so much 
within our power. What might we not do by prayer! 
What might we not do in every remotest corner of 
the earth, in the cells of purgatory, and in the open 
courts of heaven! Yet the times are against prayer; 
the spirit of the age is against it; the habits of our 
countrymen are against it. Oh, for faith in prayer! 
for only faith in prayer! for faith in simple prayer!” 12 
Our divine Saviour Himself goes before us, both by 

11 Tennyson, “Morte D’Ar- 12 Faber, “All for Jesus,” 
thur.” page 102. 



130 


ON PRAYER 


word and by example, in prayer; in many places in 
the holy Bible we read that He insisted upon its nec¬ 
essity. He Himself prayed frequently; in fact, His 
whole life was a prayer—a vast and infinite prayer. 
Oh! the wonders of the thirty years of His hidden 
life, when He prayed and worked with Joseph and 
His mother Mary! How can we ever penetrate the 
sweet mysteries it enfolds! Then the prayers and the 
laborious work—which was also a prayer—of the years 
of His public life! When the labor and toil of the 
day was done, and He was very tired from traveling 
and preaching, and when the sinking sun invited Him 
to rest His weary body and aching head, we read that, 
instead, He went alone to a quiet place on mountain 
or in garden and spent the whole night with His Father 
in prayer. The Apostles, after the example of their 
divine Model, never ceased to exhort the people to 
pray. St. Paul tells the Thessalonians to “pray with¬ 
out ceasing,” 13 and in his epistle to the Philippians 
he says: “Be nothing solicitous; but in every thing, 
by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your 
petitions be made known to God.”; 14 and again, in 
writing to the Colossians he tells them to “be instant in 
prayer; watching in it with thanksgiving.” 15 St. 
Peter says: “Be sober and watch, because your ad¬ 
versary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seek¬ 
ing whom he may devour.” 10 The same is the gen¬ 
eral tone of the other Apostles; all exhort to prayer. 
For prayer is the golden key that unlocks the door 
of the infinite treasures of God; there is no limit to 
what we may obtain by it. It makes the saint more 
holy, and turns the sinner into a saint. “For every 
one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, find- 
eth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened,” 17 

13 Thess. v. 17. 16 I. Pet. v. 8. 

14 Phil. iv. 6. 17 Matt. vii. 8. 

15 Col iv. 2. 




ON PRAYER 


13 * 

says our divine Lord. And the Lord God, speaking 
by Isaias the prophet, goes even further than this, 
for Lie says: “And it shall come to pass, that before 
they call, I will hear; as they are yet speaking, I will 
hear.” 18 

Is it not wonderful that God allows us to speak to 
Him at all? If we stop to consider who He is, and 
who we are, then indeed we can truly say, it is wonder¬ 
ful beyond anything of which we can think; God is in¬ 
finite in all perfections and we are finite in everything; 
God is infinitely holy and we are subject to sin; in 
a word, God is the Creator and we the created; and 
yet we can hold more familiar speech with Him than 
with our father or mother, our husband or wife, our 
relatives, our children, or our dearest friends, 

“There are many things which go to make up a 
true account of prayer. First, we must consider who 
we are who pray. None could have a more ignoble 
origin. We were created out of nothing, and we came 
into the world with the guilt and shame of sin al¬ 
ready on our souls, and the burden of a hideous pen¬ 
alty which eternal lamentation never could remit. To 
this our original disgrace we have added all manner of 
guilt and shame, of treason and rebellion, of irrita¬ 
bility and disrespect of our own. There are no words 
which could exaggerate our malice, no description 
which could convey a fair idea of our helpless ignor¬ 
ance. Everything about us was little to begin with, 
and we have made it immeasurably less. It is hard to 
conceive ourselves worse than we are; so much so that 
it is necessary to make it a duty to be patient and for¬ 
bearing with ourselves quite as much as with others. 
Then next, we must consider who it is to whom we 
pray. The infinitely blessed majesty of God, than 
which nothing can be conceived more good, more 
holy, more pure, more august, more adorable, more 

18 Is. lxiv. 24. 


I 3 2 


ON PRAYER 


compassionate, more incomprehensible, or more un¬ 
utterable. The very thought of 'God takes away our 
breath. He is three living Persons. We live, and 
move, and breathe in Him. He can do what He 
wills with us. He is no further bound to us than 
He has graciously and piteously chosen to bind Him¬ 
self. He knows everything without our telling Him 
or asking Him. Yet it is to Him we pray. Whether 
it be in a consecrated place or not, it is in God Him¬ 
self. We are in the midst of Him, as fishes are in 
the sea. His immensity is our temple. His ear lies 
close upon our lips—it touches them. We do not 
feel it; if we did we should die—it is always listening. 
Thoughts speak to it as loudly as words; sufferings 
even louder than words. His ear is never taken away. 
We sigh into it even when we sleep and dream/ ’ 19 

It is absolutely necessary for salvation that we get 
God’s grace; no man can be saved by his own efforts; 
it is God Himself who saves us. St. John, using the 
words of Christ says: “No man can come to Me, ex¬ 
cept the Father, who sent Me, draw him; and I will 
raise him up in the last day.” 20 And again, the same 
Apostle quotes our Saviour: “I am the way, and the 
truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, 
but by Me.” 21 And as St. Augustine so truly says: 
“He who made thee without thy co-operation, will not 
save thee without thy co-operation.” 22 This co¬ 
operation consists especially in prayer. As we cannot 
be saved without grace, and as grace is obtained only 
through prayer, it clearly follows that we shall not 
be saved unless we pray. We have already quoted 
many texts of Scripture to prove the divine precept 
of frequent prayer, and we did this to show you upon 
the authority of God Himself its absolute necessity 

19 Faber, “All for Jesus,” 21 John xiv. 6. 

page 97. 22 Sermon 169. Ch. 11. 

20 John vi. 44. 



ON PRAYER 


133 


for us. That great orator of the Church, St. John 
Chrysostom, very beautifully says: “Let us draw 
nigh in season, out of season; or rather, one can never 
draw nigh out of season, for it is unseasonable not to 
be continually approaching. For of Him who de¬ 
sires to give, it is always seasonable to ask; yea, as 
breathing is never out of season, so neither is praying 
unseasonable, but rather not praying, since as we need 
this breath, so do we also the help that comes from 
Him; and if we be willing, we shall easily draw Him 
to us." 23 Prayer, then, is our spiritual life and as 
necessary for the soul as breathing is for the life of 
the body. It connects us supernaturally with the 
central heart of all being, as our natural members 
are connected with the head and the heart. If the 
heart is languid or slow in its work, it has an effect 
on the whole body; if the heart ceases to work death 
comes; so in the spiritual life, if prayer is seldom 
performed, the soul is open to all infection, and fin¬ 
ally, if prayer altogether ceases, spiritual death ensues. 
As the earth receives the rains from heaven to fertilize 
it and sustain life, so the soul must receive the life- 
giving dew of God’s grace by prayer. Prayer is for 
the sinner and the saint, that the former may become 
holy, and that the latter may keep holy. For remem¬ 
ber, as says St. Gregory the Great, “it is not possible 
to stand in one place; he falls to the lowest who 
strives not continually for the highest.” 24 

If you have the great blessing to be in the state of 
grace, you very much need God’s assistance to perse¬ 
vere. The more you endeavor to serve God, the more 
the devil tries to draw you away from that service; he 
redoubles his efforts and uses every means in his 
power to bring you into his own slavery. How holy 
soever you may be, you still have your own passions 

23 St. John Chrysostom, Ser. 24 “Pastorals,” page 3. 

22, No, 8, 


134 


ON PRAYER 


ever ready to rebel against the higher law and tend¬ 
ing to draw you down. Even St. Paul has said: “I 
see another law in my members, fighting against the 
law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of 
sin, that is in my members.” 25 If this confession of 
weakness came from him, what may we not truly say 
on the same point? Then there is the world with 
its false maxims and glittering show seeking to en¬ 
tice us from God’s service and involve us in its ruin 
and destruction. Yes, the world, with its scandals 
and its impurities and its drunkenness and its op¬ 
pressions and its deceit and lying maxims and its 
fashions and its sneers at all that is good and holy and 
its heroes and would-be great men—the world can be 
overcome and conquered only by the man of prayer. 

If we use the wings of prayer, we can, like the 
eagle, soar above all the mean and sordid things of the 
world into the clear air of God’s sunshine and God’s 
love. In all our temptations, prayer, earnest confiding 
prayer, will be our solace and our deliverance. There 
is no one here but can confirm this statement by his 
own personal experience. How many times, when 
you were tempted to evil and had run to God in 
prayer, did you not overcome the temptation and con¬ 
quer the enemy? How many times, when trouble or 
sickness or trial came upon you and sorrow weighed 
you down to the ground, did you not find strength 
and balm and consolation for your souls in child-like, 
heart-felt prayer? 

‘‘The universal grace of prayer is one of the sweetest, 
as well as the fullest, expressions of the doctrine of 
the easiness of salvation. But can prayer mean that 
God will give up His own will, and accommodate it 
to ours? “Ask, and you shall have; seek, and you 
shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” 26 
“The fervent prayer of a just man is of great avail. 

25 Rom. vii. 23. 26 Matt. vii. 7, 


ON PRAYER 


135 


Intellectually speaking, it is very hard to believe in 
prayer; but let us spend but one week in the real 
earnest service of God and the exercise of a spiritual 
life, and the fact, and far more than we ever sur¬ 
mised to be the fact, will be before us bright beyond 
the brilliance of any human demonstration. All ex¬ 
perience concurs with God’s written word to tell 11s 
that the immutable is changed by prayer.” 27 No 
wonder that David, the man of tribulation and sor¬ 
row, cried out: “In my trouble I called upon the 
Lord; and the Lord heard me and enlarged me. The 
Lord is my helper; I will not fear what man can do 
unto me.” 28 Without prayer, no man can stay long 
in grace; no man can successfully resist temptations; 
no man can have solace or strength, unless he prays. 
St. John Chrysostom says: “Whosoever does not 
pray to God continuously, and does not desire to en¬ 
joy continuously His divine conversation is dead. 
The death of the soul is not to be prostrated before 
God.” 29 Prayer, therefore, is necessary for those 
who have the misfortune to be in the state of sin; 
indeed, it is much more necessary for them than for 
those who are in the state of grace and in the friend¬ 
ship of God. I have no doubt that you know very 
well that a person who is in the state of mortal sin 
loses all merit before God. He is a rebel, and as such 
cannot get, nor does he deserve to get, any rewards 
from liis outraged Sovereign. Yet, although many 
blessings are denied him, the Father of mercies will 
not, as a general rule, deny him the grace of prayer. 
“As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the 
death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from 
his way, and live.” 30 Now, if it is the will of God' 
that the sinner be converted from his evil ways, He 

27 Faber, “The Creator and 29 Book I. On Prayer to, 

the Creature,” page 281. God. 

28 Ps, cxvii. 5 ,. 6.. ao Ezech, xxxiik ii> 


136 


ON PRAYER 


must give him the means by which he can be turned 
to Him, and that means is prayer. If He will not 
give unless He is asked, He must move us to ask; 
and that is the grace of prayer. 

Bear well in mind that the first office of prayer is to 
render you holy and pleasing' in the sight of God. “If 
thou wilt put away from thee the iniquity that is in thy 
hand, and let not injustice remain in thy tabernacle, 
then mayest thou lift up thy face without spot, and thou 
shalt be steadfast, and shalt not fear.” 31 Upon 
which words of the Book of Job St. Gregory the 
Great has this to say: “The soul is the inner face 
of man, by which same we are known, that we may 
be regarded with love by our Maker. Now it is to 
lift up this same face, to raise the soul to God by 
application to the exercises of prayer. But there is 
a spot that pollutes the uplifted face when conscious¬ 
ness of its own guilt accuses the mind intent; for it is 
forthwith dashed from all confidence of hope, if when 
busied in prayer it be stung with the recollection of 
sin not yet subdued. For it distrusts its being able 
to obtain what it longs for, in that it bears in mind 
its still refusing to do what it has heard from God. 
Hence it is said by John: ‘Dearly beloved, if our 
heart do reprehend us, we have confidence towards God; 
And whatsoever we shall ask, we shall receive of 
Him. 32 Hence Solomon saith: ‘He that turneth 
away his ears from hearing the law, his prayer shall 
be an abomination.’ 33 For our heart blames us in 
offering up our prayers when it calls to mind that it 
is set in opposition to the precepts of Him whom it 
implores; and the prayer becomes abomination when 
there is a ‘turning away’ from the control of the law; 
in that verily it is meet that a man should be a stranger 
to the favors of Him to whose bidding he will not 

31 Job xi. 14, 15. 33 Prov. xxviii. 9. 

32 I. John iii. 21, 22. 


ON PRAYER 


137 


be subject. Wherein there is this salutary remedy, 
if when the soul reproaches itself upon the remem¬ 
brance of sin, it first bewail that in prayer wherein 
it has gone wrong, that whereas the stain of offenses 
is washed away by tears, in offering up our prayers 
the face of the heart may be viewed unspotted by our 
Maker.” 34 And David also says: “If I have looked 
at iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” 35 
Are not men wholly without excuse for not using 
such an easy and ready means of salvation? Does 
not their refusal to use this means show in them 
blindness and fatality of the worst kind!? God can¬ 
not, nor will not, force any one into heaven. There is 
no one who cannot say within his heart that God is 
daily, sweetly alluring him to do right. He offers 
to him the grace of repentance, and that on the easi¬ 
est conditions. “If you, being evil, know how to give 
good gifts to your children, how much more will your 
Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them 
that ask Him?” 30 By the power of a short, fer¬ 
vent prayer, the humble Publican was changed from 
a sinner to a justified man: “He struck his breast, 
saying: O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” 37 
The prayer of the proud Pharisee only removed him 
farther from God. The same can be said of the peni¬ 
tent thief, as he hung upon the cross by the side of 
his Master and Saviour; grace went out to him from 
the Sacred Heart of Jesus; he got the grace of prayer; 
he used it. It was a very short prayer, only a few 
words, but he put his whole soul into it: “Lord, 
remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy king¬ 
dom. And Jesus said to him: Amen, I say to 
thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in paradise.” 38 
Nearly nineteen hundred years have come and gone, 

34 Book X. No. 15. 37 Luke xviii. 13. 

35 Ps. lxv. 18. 38 Luke xxiii. 42, 43. 

36 Luke xi. 13. 


138 


ON PRAYER 


f 

and that Penitent Thief is still with his fcrucified 
Master in heaven. See the power of prayer! Doubt¬ 
less the other thief was offered the same grace; he 
did not use it but cast it aside, like so many who 
have come after him, and died unrepentant. 

Oh! make use of the great grace of prayer; take 
example of the Publican in the Temple and of the 
Penitent Thief upon the cross, should you unhappily 
be in the state of sin. Should you be in the state 
of God’s friendship, thank Him, but do not forget 
that your remaining in that state will be due to your 
fervent prayers. It is not enough that you have been 
placed in the way, or on the road to heaven; you 
must not swerve from the right path. The world, 
the devil, and our own evil inclinations are always 
and ever alluring us from the straight way to the 
broad and deceitful by-ways of sin. We require a 
continual inflow of grace and helps to keep on the 
right path to heaven. Many roads are before us, but 
there is only one right way to heaven, and we shall 
wander off that road unless we have grace from God 
every day. It is wholly impossible to do what God 
asks us to do unless Pie help us—and He will not 
unless we pray. If we earn our bread by the sweat 
of our brow, so must we earn God’s help by the en¬ 
ergy and work of prayer; for prayer is the greatest 
source of energy in the world. The strongest man 
is the man who prays; the weakest man is the man 
who does not. Miracles are worked by prayer. “If 
thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that 
believeth.” 39 Yes, tile greatest things in the world 
are done by prayer. “Consider the efficacy of prayer. 
We have only to pray for lawful things, to pray for 
them often- and perseveringly, and to believe we shall 
receive them, and receive them too, not according 
to the poverty of our foolish intentions, but accord- 

39 Mark ix. 22., 



ON PRAYER 


139 


ing to the riches and wisdom and munificence of God; 
and it is an infallible truth that we shall receive them. 
God is at our disposal. He allows us this almost 
unbounded influence over Him, not once or twice, not 
merely on feasts or great occasions, but all our lives 
long.” 40 

Prayer, when it proceeds from proper dispositions, 
is most efficacious, and obtains such an influence 
over the heart of our Father that He will not 
refuse the petition of His child. It offers a kind of 
violence to heaven, and brings down many blessings 
and favors which otherwise would not be given. 
We have a wonderful example in the Old Testament 
of the power and efficacy of prayer. It is related in 
the Book of Exodus that Moses went up into the 
mountain to speak with God and receive from Him 
the Ten Commandments. In the meantime the people 
below in the plain, whom God had taken out of the slav¬ 
ery of Egypt, and was feeding in the desert, made for 
themselves a golden calf, and setting it up, fell down 
and adored it, and feasted and danced around it. 
Almighty God told Moses what the people were do¬ 
ing, and said to him: “See that this people is stiff¬ 
necked ; let me alone, that my wrath may be kindled 
against them, and that I may destroy them, and I 
will make of thee a great nation,” and at the prayer 
of Moses “the Lord was appeased from doing the evil 
which He had spoken against His people.” 41 What 
a wonderful example this is of the power of prayer! 
Had not Moses interceded for this guilty people, they 
certainly would have been destroyed and blotted out 
by their offended God. And is it not the same with 
our own selves? Do we not very well know that a 
just God would have severely chastised us, had we 
not stayed His powerful hand by prayer ? How often 
has prayer—the prayer of a contrite heart—rescued 

40 Faber, “All for Jesus,” 41 Exod. xxxii. 9, 10, 14. 
page ioi. 



140 


ON PRAYER 


us from hell, and placed us again in the friendship 
and love of God? What was it that changed the 
great St. Paul from a persecutor of the Church into 
an apostle of that faith which he afterward preached 
throughout the world in the face of every obstacle 
and constant danger of death? It was the short but 
powerful prayer of the holy martyr Stephen, at whose 
cruel stoning to death he was present and to which 
he was a willing party. That fervent, heartfelt 
prayer of the first Christian martyr: “Lord, lay not 
his sin to their charge,” 42 pierced the clouds of 
heaven, ascended to the mercy-seat of God, and brought 
down a refreshing shower of grace upon the dried-up 
heart of the persecutor of the Christians. And is not 
St. Monica a continual, standing, ever-living testi¬ 
mony of faith in prayer? Years and years she prayed 
for the conversion of her pagan husband and her 
sinful, erring son. For years a wail of anguish went 
up from that holy woman’s lips and heart to the throne 
of her heavenly Father and, although He did not 
seem to hear, yet in the end He granted more than 
she dared ask for. Her husband was converted and 
died a holy, Christian death; and her son, the re¬ 
nowned and glorious Augustine, was not only brought 
back from his erring, sinful ways to the path of 
rectitude, but became one of the brightest gems in 
the crown of the Church. This son, years afterwards, 
praising God for the prayers of his mother, said: 
“To thee, fountain of mercies, poured she forth more 
copious prayers and tears, that Thou wouldst hasten 
Thy help, and enlighten my darkness.” 43 

I might keep on citing examples of the usefulness 
and power of prayer. Suffice it to say, that the lives of 
the saints are full of these examples, and I assert tha't 
there is no soul in heaven to-day, who on earth arrived 
at the use of reason, but is there by prayer. Prayer is 

42 Acts vii. 59. 43 Conf. Book VI. No. x. 


ON PRAYER 


141 

an ever-burning torch which enkindles the flame of 
divine love in the soul of the sinner and increases 
the same in the soul of the saint. It is a beacon- 
light guiding and directing us on the ocean of life to 
the harbor of a happy eternity—heaven. It is oil and 
wine poured into the wounds of our soul; it is a 
balm and a consolation to our troubled spirit. 
“Whence comes the value of our prayers? They are 
fleeting words; fugitive petitions. There is nought 
in them to give ground for a hearing, except the very 
excess of our unworthiness and, therefore, the extrem¬ 
ity of our need. Else, why should our prayers be in 
the Creator’s ear more than the roaring of a lion, 
or the querulous complaining of the plover, or the 
cry of the suffering beast run down by the hunters? 
Their value comes principally from this—that God 
Himself has vouchsafed to become man, has lain out 
upon the inclement mountains, and spent the night in 
prayer. He mixes us up with Himself; makes our 
cause His, His interests ours, and we become one with 
Him. So by a mysterious communion, the worth of 
His prayers runs into our prayers; the wealth of His 
enriches the poverty of ours; the infinity of His 
touches, raises, and magnifies the wretchedness of 
ours. So that when we pray, it is not we who pray, 
but He who prays.” 44 Since, then, it is so effective 
in obtaining all we need, the wonder is that men do 
not use it more frequently. We must pray for all 
necessities of body and soul, and do so in unison with 
His holy will; He will always hear when it is a 
question of the soul’s salvation. He is infinitely good, 
and cannot grant anything hurtful to us; therefore, 
for our own good, He refuses sometimes when we 
ask for things which He knows will do us harm. 
“Though we receive it not, let 11s persevere,” says 
St. John Chrysostom; “and if we do receive, then be- 

44 Faber, “All for Jesus,” page 97. 



142 


ON PRAYER 


cause we have received. For it is not at all His 
wish to defer giving, but by such delay He is con¬ 
triving for us to persevere.” 45 Do not imagine that 
you are troublesome to the infinitely patient and lov¬ 
ing God; do not be like some who say, what is the 
use, God does not hear. Listen to what the same 
saint says on this very point: “Because, as among 
men, if thou keep on doing so, thou art even ac¬ 
counted troublesome, and disgusting; so with God, 
when thou doest not so, then thou dost more entirely 
provoke Him. And if thou continue asking, though 
thou receive not at once, thou surely wilt receive. . . . 
Do thou also therefore ask nothing worldly, but in 
all things spiritual, and thou wilt surely receive. 
Two things now, you see, should be in him that 
prays—asking earnestly, and asking what he ought.” 4G 
A great many people allow days, months, and years 
to pass over them without a word of prayer; in fact, 
they have lost the use of prayer altogether. Look 
around you and see how seldom men really pray. 
Their whole life is taken up with worldly cares, or 
frivolous amusements, or indulgence in sin; they have 
crowded out the Holy Spirit from their souls. And 
yet they were created for prayer, and for heaven; 
it was God’s intention that they should be happy with 
Him; but they will not co-operate with Him and con¬ 
sequently He is not obliged to force them into heaven. 
There is no condition of life, even the busiest, that 
cannot be one of prayer. To work is to pray, when 
the work is offered to God. It is not what you do, 
but how you do it, that will count with Him; and the 
meanest work in the eyes of the world can be the 
noblest in the eyes of God when it is done for Him. 
St. Paul says: “Whether you eat or drink, or what¬ 
soever else you do, do all to the glory of God.” 47 

45 Sermon io, No. 7. 47 I. Cor. x. 31. 

46 Sermon 23, No. 5. 


ON PRAYER 


143 


One act of love, one offering in the morning, re¬ 
newed sometimes during the day, consecrates all the 
actions thereof, and makes of them so many prayers. 

Let one unceasing', earnest prayer 
Be, too, for light,—for strength to bear 
Our portion of the weight of care, 

That crushes into dumb despair 
One half the human race. 48 

Let us use this powerful and easy means of salva¬ 
tion always during life. By it we shall lay up trea¬ 
sures for ourselves in heaven. And when our last 
hour shall come, the life-long habit will remain with 
us, and our last prayer will be the best and most pow¬ 
erful, with which, upon our lips or in our heart, 
we shall stand before the judgment-seat of Christ 
to receive the reward of prayerful men. 

Let me finish in the beautiful words of St. Au¬ 
gustine: “There is one that heareth prayer; hesi¬ 
tate not to pray, but He that heareth abideth within. 
Only cleanse the chamber of thy heart; wheresoever 
thou art, wherever thou prayest, he that hears is within, 
within in the secret place, which the Psalmist calls 
his bosom, when he says ‘And my prayer shall be 
turned into my bosom.’ 40 He that heareth thee is 
not beyond thee; thou hast not to travel far, nor to 
lift thyself up, so as to reach Him, as it were, with 
thy hands. Rather, if thou lift thyself up, thou shalt 
fall; if thou humble thyself, He will draw near 
thee.” 50 Amen. 

48 Longfellow, “The Goblet 50 On the Gospel of St. John, 

of Life,” 10. Tract. 10, No. 1. 

49 Ps. xxxiv. 13. 



ON CONFESSION 


“Now I am glad; not because you were made sor¬ 
rowful; but because you were made sorrowful unto 
penance. For you were made sorrowful according 
to God, that you might suffer damage by us in noth¬ 
ing. For the sorrow that is according to God work- 
eth penance, steadfast unto salvation; but the sorrow 
of the world worketh death.” (II. Cor. vii. 9, 10.) 

SYNOPSIS 

The great object of a mission.—The sorrow of the world is 
futile.—The sorrow for God’s sake is beneficial.—God is always 
ready, to forgive.—Penance is absolutely necessary for all men.—• 
What sin is.—The justice of God.—So forgiveness in the material 
world.—Many examples of penance from the beginning.—“Do 
penance” addressed to all men.—Sin and peace.—Christ the Re¬ 
storer of peace.—St. Peter’s profession.—“The keys of the 
kingdom of heaven.”—Sacrament never before given to men.— 
Christ gave to men His power over sin.—Woman taken in sin.— 
Paralyzed man and sin.—Confession and Jewish ceremonal.— 
Leprosy, the type of sin.—What is sacramental confession?—Ab¬ 
solution is a judicial power.—No sin so great confession cannot 
remove.—Confession from the beginning of the Church.—Con- , 
fession denied.—St. Peter the patron of the confessional.— ' 
Physicians of souls.—What a good confession does.—This 
sacrament benefits society.—The Council of Trent on the ad¬ 
vantages of confession.—Turn to Christ and heed his call.—God 
is kind and gentle.—Prayer. 

The great object of our mission is, in the words 
of St. Paul, to make you “sorrowful unto penance.” 
We have not come here for the purpose of impressing 
you with the idea that, in order to be good you must 
be downcast and gloomy; on the contrary, our only 
reason of being here is to make you glad and rejoice, 
for “this is the day which the Lord hath made; let 
us be glad and rejoice therein.” 1 We are here to 

1 Ps. cxvii. 24. 

144 




ON CONFESSION 


145 


help you to lead better lives; to have you abandon 
sin of all kinds, especially mortal sin; to impress 
upon you the necessity and importance of your sal¬ 
vation, and the misery and danger of sloth and coldness 
in God’s service. We call upon each and every one of 
you to cry out in his heart, as sincerely as the king 
and prophet, DaGd, did: “I shall not die, but live: 
and shall declare the works of the Lord. The Lord 
chastising hath chastised me; but He hath not de¬ 
livered me over to death. Open ye to me the gates 
of justice: I will go in to them, and give praise to 
the Lord/’ 2 

Yes, indeed, we are come to make you sorrowful, 
but only in order to have you rejoice the more after¬ 
wards. The sorrow of the world is futile and fleet¬ 
ing, and has no hope beyond the grave, but “the sor¬ 
row that is according to God” avails much, is lasting, 
and is meritorious for life eternal. The sorrow of 
this world ends where it begins. It begins with false 
hopes, fleeting expectations of worldly gain or worldly 
forgiveness; and since the world never really forgives 
those who offend against its maxims, or makes a mis¬ 
step beyond its laws, so the sorrow of its votaries 
finally ends in despair. “And we know that to them 
that love God, all things work together unto good, 
to such as according to His purpose, are called to be 
saints,” says St. Paul. 3 So “the sorrow that is 
according to God worketh penance, steadfast unto 
salvation.” 

For God is always and ever ready to forgive our 
sins if we only sincerely and humbly ask Him to do 
so. St. James says: “Draw nigh to God, and He 
will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sin¬ 
ners; and purify your hearts, ye doubled-minded. Be 
humbled in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt 

2 Ps. cxvii. 17-19. 3 Rom. viii. 28. 


146 


ON CONFESSION 


you.” 4 And we have not only the testimony of the 
Apostle St. James, but also the words of God the 
Holy Ghost through the prophet Ezechiel: “Is it 
My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, 
and not that he should be converted from his ways, 
and live? For I desire not the death of him that 
dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live.” 5 And 
St. Peter says: “The Lord delayeth not His prom¬ 
ise, as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your 
sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all 
should return to penance.” 6 

Now, for all who have fallen into sin penance is 
absolutely necessary. It makes no difference whether 
a man be Jew or Gentile, Pagan or Christian, civilized 
or savage, there is only one way of obtaining the 
vision of God by those who have sinned, and that is 
by the way of repentance and sorrow. God’s pardon 
must be asked; sin must be atoned for, the evil must 
be repaired, and right order restored. 

Sin is a rebellion against God, and peace and recon¬ 
ciliation can be brought about only in one way, and 
this is the unconditional surrender of the rebel, and 
the acknowledgment of his sin or rebellion. As God 
is infinitely just, it would be a contradiction of His 
justice to pardon an unrepentant sinner. Heaven is 
the abode of the sinless and undefiled; the home of 
peace, which would be destroyed were a rebellious 
soul to dwell there; such a thing is impossible, un¬ 
imaginable, a contradiction. There is no doubt that 
every one is not bound by the same law of repentance, 
as far as regards its intensity. But in general, 
what St. Paul says as regards faith in God can be 
applied to all men in the case of repentance: “He 
that cometh to God,” he says, “must believe that He 
is, and is a rewarder to them that seek Him.” 7 

4 James iv. 8, 10. 6 II. Pet. iii. 9. 

5 Ezech. xviii. 23, 32. 7 Heb. xi. 6. 






ON CONFESSION 


147 


As a moral virtue, penance is that action of the 
mind by which we turn from sin to God. It is a re¬ 
gretting of the evil, a hatred of the sin, and a purpose 
of amendment. This is the least we can do to get 
pardon, and it contains in itself the love of God. 
All men have not the same idea of God and His 
justice, but even the rudest and most savage have 
implanted in their hearts the knowledge of a higher 
Power to whom they are responsible. St. Paul says: 
“When the Gentiles, who have not the law, do by na¬ 
ture those things that are of the law; these having 
not the law are a law to themselves; who show the 
work of the law written in their hearts, their con¬ 
science bearing witness to them, and their thoughts 
between themselves accusing, or also defending one 
another.” 8 

In the natural order, there is no forgiveness for 
transgressions; water will drown, fire will burn, dis¬ 
ease will sap the strength of the morally good or the 
morally bad; nature is no respecter of persons; for the 
cold of winter and the heat of summer affect the 
just and the unjust equally. The aim of the virtue 
of penance is, as it were, to reverse the law of suffer¬ 
ing for transgressions; it is to appease the anger of 
God if we have offended Him, and it is the first and 
fundamental rule of right reason that we should have 
sorrow for having done so. 

If even in the most rudimentary way the idea of 
God is grasped by the mind, it is just and reasonable 
to think that He can be appeased by sorrow and re¬ 
pentance. If it is not this, it is nothing, and man has 
sunk below the brute, for the brute has neither rea¬ 
son nor conscience. This state of mind can be, and 
often is, brought about by repeated sins, and by sloth 
and tepidity in the service of God. St. John Chrysos¬ 
tom says very truly and beautifully: “No one quickly 

8 Rom. ii. 14, 15. 




148 


ON CONFESSION 


and at once rushes into vices. For the soul has, yea, 
it has a shame implanted in us, and a reverence for 
right things; and it would not at once become so 
shameless as in one act to cast away everything, but 
slowly, and by little and little does it perish, when 
it is careless.” 9 “Behold among His saints,” says 
holy Job, “none is unchangeable, and the heavens are 
not pure in His sight. How much more is man ab¬ 
ominable and unprofitable, who drinketh iniquity like 
water.” 10 

We have numerous examples of this virtue of pen¬ 
ance as far back as the beginning of the human race. 
Adam did penance for his sin, was ashamed of it, 
and sorry for it, if ever any man was. David, the 
great king and prophet of Israel, did penance for 
his sins. His psalms are filled with sorrow and tears, 
and he is always calling upon the Lord to forgive 
him: “I cried with my whole heart, hear me, O 
Lord; I will seek Thy justification. I cried unto 
Thee, save me; that I may keep Thy Commandments. 
Hear Thou my voice, O Lord, according to Thy 
mercy; and quicken me according to Thy judgment.” 11 
Could any cry of a sinner for mercy be more piteous 
than this? “Have mercy on me, O God, according 
to Thy great mercy. And according to the multitudb 
of Thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity. Wash me 
yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my 
sin. For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always 
before me.” 12 

The prophets of the Old Testament are nearly all 
occupied in inculcating this spirit of repentance among 
the Jews. Even to those who were not of the Chosen 
People was this repentance for sin preached, for Jonas 
was sent to the Ninivites and the burden of his preach- 

9 On St. Matt., Sermon 86, 11 Ps. cxviii. 145, 146, 149. 

No. 3. 12 Ps. 1 . 3-5. 

10 Job xv. 15, 16. 


ON CONFESSION 


149 


ing was: “Yet forty days, and Ninive shall be 
destroyed. And the men of Ninive believed in God; 
and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, 
from the greatest to the least. And God saw their 
works, that they were turned from their evil ways; 
and God had mercy with regard to the evil which 
He said that He would do to them, and He did it 
not.” 13 

The greatest of all the prophets, St. John the Bap¬ 
tist, sums up in his life and in his teaching the lessons 
of penance taught by those who went before him. 
All his teaching can be embraced in this one sentence 
of his: “Do penance: for the kingdom of God 
is at hand.” 14 This admonition is addressed to every¬ 
one without distinction of race, of nationality, or of 
belief; all must do penance if they are to be saved. 

Now, what we have hitherto been speaking about 
is a necessary foundation for the Sacrament of Pen¬ 
ance, into which we will now conduct an inquiry. 

Our divine Lord, as you all know very well, came 
on earth to save souls. Before His coming, the vir¬ 
tue of penance, as we have already expounded, was 
necessary for all men. But ou,r Saviour came to 
make it easier for men; He came to fulfill the law; 
He came to bring “on earth peace to men of good 
will.” 15 His mission was to give infinite satisfaction 
for sin to His Father, and to make the types and 
shadows of the Old Dispensation yield to the realities 
and substance of the New. 

Sin is the disturbance of that peace which should 
always exist between God and the soul; it is the break¬ 
ing of the golden chain of good will by which we are 
bound to our heavenly Father. 

Christ’s mission on earth was to restore the right 
order of peace and to weld the several links, thereby 

13 Jonas iii. 4, 5, 10. 15 Luke ii. 14. 

14 Matt. iii. 2. 



ON CONFESSION 


150 

binding our souls to God. For this purpose He insti¬ 
tuted the great Sacrament of peace and reconciliation. 
Knowing, as He alone could know, the weakness and 
trials and temptations of men, He was not content 
to leave us with merely the virtue of penance, but 
He elevated that moral virtue to the dignity of a 
Sacrament and, as it were, raised up human confi¬ 
dence, by which we are almost compelled to trust in 
one another and unburden ourselves of sorrow; to 
a Sacrament of hope, and trust, and consolation. 

After St. Peter had made his profession of faith 
in the Divinity of his divine Master in these words: 
“Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God,” 1G that 
same Master of life and death, of reward and of 
punishment, said to him: “And I will give to thee 
the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatso¬ 
ever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound 
also in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon 
earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.” 17 Again, 
in St. John’s Gospel we read: “Now when it was 
late that same day, the first of the week, and 
the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered 
together, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood 
in the midst, and said to them: “Peace be to you. 
And when He had said this, He showed them His 
hands and His side. The disciples therefore were 
glad, when they saw the Lord. He said therefore 
to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father 
hath sent Me, I also send you. When He had said 
this He breathed on them, and He said to them: 
Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall 
forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you 
shall retain, they are retained.” 18 

St. Cyril of Jerusalem very beautifully explains this 
event in the life of our Lord, so important to us. 

16 Matt. xvi. 16. 18 John xx. 19-23. 

17 Matt. xvi. 19. 


ON CONFESSION 


151 

“By the word of God,” he says, “man was created 
and God breathed into him the breath of life; im¬ 
parted to him His Spirit. Again, subsequently to the 
fall, the word of God raises man, and calls him from 
the death of sin to enter upon a new life. And in 
order that we may know that it is the self-same di¬ 
vine Person who created man in the beginning and 
sealed him with His Spirit, now, at the commence¬ 
ment of our new or renewed existence, He again 
imparts His Spirit to the disciples by breathing on 
them. Thus by the very same means whereby we 
were in the beginning called into being we are also 
created and born anew.” 

O wonderful love of God! When He was born 
in Bethlehem the angels sang of “peace on earth to 
men of good will.” Then it was the bending down 
of heaven to earth; now it is the lifting up of earth to 
heaven. “Peace be to you!” repeated as only the gen¬ 
tle and loving Saviour of mankind could utter it from 
the heart. Not a word of reproach for Peter’s denial 
and for the cowardice of them all! No, not a word, 
but instead—“peace,” and the institution of the Sac¬ 
rament of peace; the raising of the virtue of penance 
into the easier and almost tangible Sacrament. 

Never before had such power been given to man. 
Some of the prophets, as in the case of Nathan telling 
David of his sins, and assuring him that God had 
forgiven them, had only announced the pardon from 
God of men’s sins, and nothing else; but here we have 
the wonder—God delegating to men one of His own 
highest prerogatives, the power over spiritual life and 
death. 

“How many are the souls in distress, anxiety, or 
loneliness,” says Cardinal Newman, “whose one need 
is to find a being fo whom they can pour out their 
feelings unheard by the world? Tell them they must; 
they cannot tell them out to those whom they see every 




152 


ON CONFESSION 


hour. They want to tell them, and not to tell them; 
and they want to tell them out, yet be as if they were 
not told; they wish to tell them to one who is strong 
enough to bear them, yet not too strong to despise 
them; they wish to tell them to one who can at once 
advise and can sympathize with them; they wish to re¬ 
lieve themselves of a load, to gain a solace, to receive 
the assurance that there is one who thinks of them, 
and one to whom in thought they can recur, to whom 
they can betake themselves, if necessary, from time to 
time;, while they are in the world. How many a Prot¬ 
estant’s heart would leap at the news of such a benefit, 
putting aside all distinct ideas of a sacramental ordina¬ 
tion, or of a grant of pardon and the conveyance of 
grace! 

“If there is a heavenly idea in the Catholic Church, 
looking at it simply as an idea, surely, next after the 
Blessed Sacrament, confession is such. And such it 
is ever found in fact—the very act of kneeling, the 
low and contrite voice, the sign of the cross hanging, 
so to say, over the head bowed low, and the words of 
peace and blessing. Oh, what a soothing charm is 
there, which the world can neither give nor take away! 
Oh, what piercing, heart-subduing tranquillity, provok¬ 
ing tears of joy, is poured almost substantially and 
physically upon the soul, the oil of gladness, as Scrip¬ 
ture calls it, when the penitent at length rises, his God 
reconciled to him, his sins rolled away forever! This 
is confession, as it is in fact.” 19 

Christ came, as we have already told you, to for¬ 
give sins. He is the eternal Son of God, and on at 
least two notable occasions exercised publicly His 
power of forgiving sin by His own supreme authority. 
One is the case of the woman taken in adultery, whom 
the Jews brought before Him for condemnation. 

19 “Present Position of Catholics in England,” Lecture 8, 
Part 7. 



ON CONFESSION 


153 


Stooping he wrote on the Temple floor, and her ac¬ 
cusers, seeing what He had written slunk away. 
Rising He said: “Woman, where are they that ac¬ 
cused thee? Hath no man condemned thee? Who 
said: No, man, Lord. And Jesus said: Neither 
will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more.” 20 
The other is the case of the paralyzed man: “Be of 
good heart, son, thy sins are forgiven thee. And 
behold some of the Scribes said within themselves: 
He blasphemeth. And Jesus seeing their thoughts, 
said: Why do you think evil in your hearts? 
Whether is it easier to say, Thy sins are forgiven 
thee; or to say, Arise and walk? But that you may 
know that the Son of man hath power on earth to 
forgive sins, then said He to the man sick of the 
palsy: Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house. 
And he arose, and went into his house.” 21 

This self-same power He gave to His Apostles and 
their successors: “As the Father hath sent Me, I 
also send you.” 22 And as the Father sent Him to 
forgive sins, so He delegates this wonderful power 
to the priests of His Church. St. Paul says: “All 
things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Him¬ 
self by Christ; and hath given to us the ministry of 
reconciliation.” 23 Now this reconciliation can ordi¬ 
narily take place only in the manner laid down by the 
world’s Saviour, namely, by sacramental confession 
and sacramental absolution. 

Even in the Old Law confession of sin was en¬ 
joined, not indeed as a Sacrament, but as a foreshad¬ 
owing of and preparation for the Sacrament and 
reality of the New Law; also as a help to the moral 
virtue of penance and as a solace in itself. David 
cries out to God: “Because I was silent my bones 
grew old; whilst I cried out all the day long. For 

20 John viii. 10, 11. 22 John xx. 21. 

21 Matt. ix. 2-7. 23 II. Cor. v. 18. 


154 


ON CONFESSION 


day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me; I am 
turned in my anguish, whilst the thorn is fastened.’’ 24 
You can see from this the effect of keeping locked 
up in the heart the sins and troubles of a guilty con¬ 
science. Afterwards David gives utterance to his 
relief, that the load is taken off his mind: “I have 
acknowledged my sin to Thee, and my injustice I 
have not concealed. I have said I will confess against 
myself my injusice to the Lord: and Thou hast for¬ 
given the wickedness of my sin.” 25 

In Leviticus, the inspired book of the ceremonials 
of the Jews, we have the command given by Almighty 
God: “You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an 
enemy’s land shall consume you, and if of them also 
some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, 
in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted 
for the sins of their fathers, and their own: Until 
they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their 
ancestors, whereby they have transgressed against Me, 
and walked contrary unto Me.” 26 In the Book of 
Deuteronomy, the second law strengthening the first 
given by God on Mount Sinai, leprosy is taken as a 
type of sin. Here is what the law says: “Observe 
diligently that thou incur not the stroke of the lep¬ 
rosy, but thou shalt do whatsoever the priests of the 
Levitical race shall teach thee, according to what I 
have commanded them, and fulfill thou it carefully.” 27 
And all through the Old and New Law this figure 
prevails. In no other cases were sick persons to pre¬ 
sent themselves to the priests. Even the High 
Priest of the New Law, Christ our Saviour, before 
establishing the New Law of grace and of reconcilia¬ 
tion, commanded the ten lepers who came to Him, 
and were suddenly healed by Him: “Go show your- 

24 Ps. xxxi. 3, 4. 26 Lev. xxvi. 38-40. 

25 Pg. xxxi. 5, 6. 27 Deut. xxiv. 8. 





ON CONFESSION 

t 


155 


selves to the priests.” 2S On another occasion: “Be¬ 
hold a man full of leprosy, who seeing Jesus, and 
falling on his face, besought Him, saying: Lord, if 
Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. And stretch¬ 
ing forth His hand He touched him, saying, I will; 
be thou cleansed. And immediately the leprosy de¬ 
parted from him. And He charged him that he 
should tell no man, but Go, show thyself to the priest, 
and offer for thy cleansing according as Moses com¬ 
manded for a testimony to them.’ ” 29 

These proofs are given to show the connection be¬ 
tween leprosy as a figure of sin and the obligation of 
proving by the testimony of the priest that the body 
had been cleansed of it. But as the Jewish law dealt 
mainly in types and figures, it remained for the Chris¬ 
tian law to elevate those types and figures into reali¬ 
ties. 

Leprosy was, and is, a loathsome disease. The 
priests of the Old Law were the official judges of its 
contagion and of its removal. Sin is a most loath¬ 
some disease. The priests of the New Law are the 
official judges of its committal and of its remission; 
they have the wonderful power of loosing or binding 
in the spiritual leprosy of sin. Sacramental confes¬ 
sion of sin means, therefore, the cleansing of this 
moral leprosy. What is sacramental confession? 
“It is a full, sincere and humble declaration of our 
sins to a priest, to obtain absolution.” 30 

When our divine Lord enjoined upon all the obliga¬ 
tion of confession in the words quoted by St. John: 
“Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall 
forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sins you 
shall retain, they are retained,” 31 He implied clearly 
the necessity of the statement of sin in its different 

28 Luke xvii. 14. 30 Dr. Doyle’s Catechism. 

29 Luke v. 12-14. 31 J°hn xx. 23, 



ON CONFESSION 


156 

forms and malice. For how could the Apostles and 
their successors bind or loose in matters of which 
they had no knowledge? The Lord did not confer 
upon nor promise them the gift of reading the inner¬ 
most secrets of the soul. No, these secrets must be 
revealed; the soul must be laid bare; the tale must be 
poured into the willing and sympathetic ear of the 
confessor, that the burden of sins may be removed. 
The priest becomes then and there the pastor of that 
soul, and for the time being his parish embraces the 
wonderful extent of that soul’s needs and that soul’s 
boundaries. In the Book of Proverbs we read: “He 
that hideth his sins, shall not prosper; but he that 
shall confess, and forsake them, shall obtain mercy.” 32 
And so, in this wonderful sacrament of peace and of 
reconciliation; in this great sacrament of God’s will¬ 
ingness to forgive, “mercy and truth have met each 
other; justice and peace have kissed.” 33 All this can be 
brought about only by the sinner declaring his guilt; 
for St. John says: “If we say that we have no sin, 
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If 
we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to for¬ 
give our sins, and to cleanse us from all 'iniquity.” 34 
The power of absolution is a truly judicial power; 
for as Christ is the Judge of the living and the dead, 
and as all power is given to Him by His Father; 
for “neither doth the Father judge any man, but hath 
given all judgment to the Son. That all men may honor 
the Son as they honor the Father” 35 ; and as the 
Father sent the Son, so the Son sent the Apostles: 
“As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you,” 36 ‘ 
so the Apostles and their successors are associate 
judges with Christ, “according to the dispensation of 
God.” 37 “Therefore,” says St, Augustine, “in con- 

32 Prov. xxviii. 13. 35 John v. 22, 23. 

33 Ps. lxxxiv. 11. 36 John xx. 21. 

34 1 . John i. 8, 9. 37 Col. i. 25. 





ON CONFESSION 


157 


fession the accusing of oneself is the praise of God.” 38 

There is no sin so great that it cannot be removed 
by contrition and absolution; the Son of God places 
no restriction, lays down no barriers, reserves no sins 
from absolution. “Whatsoever,” He says, “you shall 
bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and 
whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed 
also in heaven.” 39 And God says through the 
prophet Isaias: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall 
be made as white as snow; and if they be red as 
crimson, they shall be white as wool .” 40 St. Paul, 
whose heart was patterned after the heart of Christ, 
absolved a sinner of the most heinous crime, and not 
only that, but he granted him a partial indulgence of 
the temporal punishment due for it. 

Who can say truthfully that confession of sin was 
not practised from the very beginning of the Church, 
from the very infancy of Christianity? Many have 
tried, but in vain, to prove that this practise had a 
human origin. As far back as we can go, we find it 
in full use in the Church. On the shore of the Lake 
of Genesereth, it was for the first time conferred upon 
the blessed Peter. And therefore St. Peter is the 
Patron of the Confessional, and you should beg of 
him every time you confess, that you may make a 
good confession, and that his successor, to whom you 
confess, may direct and guide you well. 

Not only does confession remove all sin from the 
soul, but it gives grace to avoid sin for the future. 
Confessors are the spiritual physicians of souls, and 
as the physician of the body removes the cause of 
sickness, and prescribes means of avoiding it in fu¬ 
ture, so in the same manner acts the physician of the 
soul. When a physician opens his office, or goes on 
his rounds of healing, he knows not what cases may 

38 Sermon 67, No. 2. 40 Is. i. 18. 

39 Matt, xviii. 18. 


ON CONFESSION 


158 

be presented to him; at one time it may be a slight 
distemper; at another, the most complicated symp¬ 
toms, or the most loathsome of diseases—that is in 
the day’s work, a matter of his profession and calling; 
that is why he studied and earned his diploma to prac¬ 
tise medicine. So too, when the confessor opens his 
office—the confessional—or goes on his rounds of 
mercy, he knows not what case may be presented to 
him for healing and solace and guidance. It may 
range from the almost involuntary sins of childhood 
up to the crimes and horrors and black ingratitude 
of one nearly confirmed in sin, of a soul that is lost. 
On one side of the confessional, innocence and purity; 
on the other, worldliness, and life-long, moral lep¬ 
rosy; on one side, sincere sorrow and repentance for 
what we might call trivial sins; on the other, frivolity 
and levity for the most outrageous sins and crimes 
against God; it is the old story of the Publican and 
the Pharisee. 

Oh, how many dangers and illusions are avoided 
and overcome by a good confession! How many 
souls wavering upon the brink of the river of destruc¬ 
tion are held back from moral and physical suicide 
by its strengthening and solacing power! It corrects 
the mistakes of self-love, to which we are all so prone; 
it encourages and comforts the faint-hearted; it in¬ 
structs us in our duties and obligations; it brings peace j 
to the individual soul, and happiness to families and 
society in general. It is the great judicial tribunal 
in which are settled the most momentous cases in the 
world; in it the culprit accuses himself, not for punish¬ 
ment, but for pardon; to it flock thousands, aye, mil¬ 
lions of criminals of various degrees of guilt. 
Through its instrumentality miracles greater than the 
raising from the dead of the ruler’s daughter, or the 
widow’s son, or the fetid and decaying body of Laz¬ 
arus are hourly and daily performed by a merciful 






ON confession 


*59 


God. It remedies evils no human law can approach; 
it restores once again to the soul all its merits lost 
through the commission of mortal sin; it works the 
wonder of changing a sinner into a saint. It pro¬ 
cures restitution of honor, of goods, and of reputation. 

And so the Catechism of the Council of Trent sums 
up the advantages of confession in these words: “To 
appreciate the advantages of confession, we should 
not lose sight of an argument which has the sanction 
of experience. To those who have led immoral lives, 
nothing is found so useful towards a reformation of 
morals, as sometimes to disclose their secret thoughts, 
their words, their actions, to a prudent and faithful 
friend, who can guide them by his advice, and assist 
them by his co-operation. On the same principle must 
it prove most salutary to those whose minds are agi¬ 
tated by the consciousness of guilt, to make known 
the diseases and wounds of their souls to the priest, 
as the vicegerent of Jesus Christ, bound to eternal 
secrecy by every law, human and divine. In the 
tribunal of penance they will find immediate remedies, 
the healing qualities of which will not only remove 
the present malady, but also prove of such lasting 
\ efficacy as to be, in future, an antidote against the 
: easy approach of the same moral disease. 

“Another advantage, derivable from confession, is 
| too important to be omitted: confession contributes 
powerfully to the preservation of social order. Abol¬ 
ish sacramental confession, and, that moment, you 
deluge society with all sorts of secret crimes—crimes 
too, and others of still greater enormity, which men, 
j once they have been depraved by vicious habits, will 
not dread to commit in open day. The salutary shame 
that attends confession restrains licentiousness, bridles 
desire, and coerces the evil propensities of corrupt na¬ 
ture.” 41 

41 Donovan, Cat. Counc. Trent, i. 190. 







i6o 


ON CONFESSION 


Many people laugh at this idea of confession to 
a priest, as enjoined by the Church. They do it now 
as they did ages ago. Their argument is that God 
knows, and that it is therefore superfluous, to say 
the least, to confess to a human being like ourselves. 
But the same Council of Trent has answered the ob¬ 
jection as follows: “To obtain admittance to any 
place, the concurrence of him to whom the keys have 
been committed is necessary, and therefore, as the 
metaphor implies, to gain admission into heaven its 
gates must be opened to us by the power of the keys, 
confided by Almighty God to the care of His Church. 
This power should otherwise be nugatory. If heaven 
can be entered without the power of the keys, in vain 
shall they, to whose fidelity they have been intrusted, 
assume the prerogative of prohibiting indiscriminate 
entrance within its portals. This doctrine was famil¬ 
iar to the mind of St. Augustine: ‘Let no man,' says 
he, ‘say within himself : “ ‘I repent in secret with God; 

God, who has power to pardon me, knows the inmost 
sentiments of my heart.” Was there no reason for 
saying: “Whatsoever you loose on earth, shall be 
loosed in heavenno reason why the keys were given 
to the Church of God ?* ” 

As Father Faber very eloquently and beautifully 
says: “Confession is an act of faith on the part of the 
creature. It is also an act of the most concentrated 
worship. It is a breaking with the world and a turn¬ 
ing to God. It is a triumph over millions of evil 
spirits of higher power, and, comparatively with us 
men, of unbounded intellect. It is the beginning of 
an eternity of ineffable union with God, and confers 
the right of beholding the Invisible face to face. A 
man in a state of sin sees in a fellow creature as sin¬ 
ful as himself, perhaps even evidently more unworthy, 
the form and features and real jurisdiction of the 
Incarnate Son of God. He kneels at his feet as if he 



ON CONFESSION 


161 


were divine. He narrates to him the most secret 
shames and hidden sins of his soul. He submits to 
his questioning as if he were the absolute and ultimate 
judge of all the earth. He listens with meekness to 
his reproof, as if it were God Himself who spoke. 
He leaves to him the fixing of his punishment. He 
gives him rights over much of the arrangement of his 
external life. He makes this narration of his sins 
with a profound sorrow, a sorrow which is based on 
no mere human disgrace, or forfeiture of worldly 
honor, or ruin of temporal interests. It is not even 
based only on the fear of divine punishments, without 
some admixture of divine love. He is sorry with a 
sorrow to which neither all the power nor all the 
wisdom of the world can help him; but which is it¬ 
self the supernatural gift of God. His sorrow in¬ 
volves a detestation of his past sins, which is another 
gift of God. It is accompanied also with a firm de¬ 
termination, which chooses between the will of God 
and the liberty of sin and elects God’s will, whatever 
cost it may be found to involve. This energetic de¬ 
termination is the thing which he has taken most 
pains about. Neither has he come to it without study, 
effort, and diligence. Nevertheless, it is God’s gift 
rather than his own attainment. His act thus com¬ 
pleted, with much help and interference on the part of 
God, God Himself begins His exclusive part. One 
of His creatures, a fallible as well as himself a guilty 
judge, pronounces some few words, and straightway, 
though invisibly and spiritually, there falls from the 
veins of Jesus a shower of the Precious Blood, shed 
hundreds of years ago, and resumed three days after 
it was shed, and bedews the sinner’s soul. All his 
guilt is done away instantaneously. His state is com¬ 
pletely changed. Manifold works are done in his 
soul, such as the re-infusion of certain supernatural 
habits, the revival of dead merits, and a communi- ’ 


ON CONFESSION 


162 

cation of the divine nature. His change can only be 
paralleled with that of a devil into an angel. All 
heaven is stirred at the event. It is the special sub¬ 
ject of the angelic jubilee. No angel or saint could 
have done it, or even applied it as instruments. It is 
the immediate action of the Creator on the soul of his 
creatures.” 42 

Turn, then, to our Lord Jesus Christ; do not put off 
your confession any longer: He is calling you, see 
that you pay heed to that call. St. Augustine says: 
“Those whom He now bears with in their sins, He 
will judge for their contempt. . . . He is a 
gentle Lord, a long-suffering Lord, a pitiful Lord; 
yea but also a just Lord, and a true Lord. He gives 
thee space to correct thy ways; but thou lovest the 
respite of thy punishment more than the amending of 
thy faults. Wast thou a bad man yesterday? Be a 
good man to-day. Hast thou spent to-day also in thy 
bad living? At least be changed to-morrow. Thou 
art ever expecting, and from the mercy of God dost 
promise thyself very much; as if He who hath upon 
thy repentance promised thee pardon hath promised 
thee also a longer life! How knowest thou what to¬ 
morrow may bring forth?” 43 

I repeat most certainly, and with all the power at 
my command: Come to confession during the mis¬ 
sion. Do not think of delaying till some other time. 
“To-day if you shall hear His voice, harden not your 
hearts .” 44 You do hear His voice: He is speaking 
in your heart. Sin is a terrible disease; the only 
doctor that can cure you is Christ; if you do not call 
Him, you will die—die—die forever; but you will 
live, if you call upon Him. Listen finally to the great 
St. Augustine, who himself, when all other doctors 

42 ‘‘Spiritual Conferences,” 43 On the Gospel of St. John, 
page 229. Tract, 33, No. 7. 

44 Ps. xciv. 8. 


ON CONFESSION 


163 

had failed, called upon Christ, and was cured. “.Who 
is the Physician? Our Lord Jesus Christ. Who is 
our Lord Jesus Christ? He who was seen by those 
by whom He was crucified; He who was seized, buf¬ 
feted, scourged, spit upon, crowned with thorns, sus¬ 
pended upon the cross, laid in the sepulchre—that 
same Jesus exactly; He is the complete Physician of 
our souls. That crucified One at whom insults were 
cast, and while He hung on the cross His persecutors 
wagging the head and saying: Tf He be the Son of 
God, let Him come down from the cross! He, and 
no other is our complete Physician.” 45 

O Jesus, great Physician of souls, grant that we may 
appreciate what Thou hast done for us in giving us 
the holy Sacrament of Penance; give us the grace al¬ 
ways to make good confessions, so that when life is 
over and past, we may stand before Thee as Judge, 
and hear the loving and welcome words: “Well 
done, good and faithful servant . . . enter thou into 
the joy of thy Lord.” 4G Amen. 

45 On the Gospel of St. John, 40 Matt. xxv. 21. 

Tract. 3, No. 3. 




ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST 


“Behold the tabernacle of God with men, and He 
will dwell with them!” (Apoc. xxi. 3.) 

SYNOPSIS 

Among the means of salvation, the Sacraments are first.—Why 
the Holy Eucharist is the greatest Sacrament.—The love of 
Christ in the Eucharist.—The Eucharist and the crib in Bethle¬ 
hem.—The Eucharist and Christ’s death.—What is the Holy 
Eucharist?—The power of consecration.—Rationalism and the 
Holy Eucharist.—Motives of belief in the Holy Eucharist.— 
Reason and faith.—Explanation and illustration.—Sense knowl¬ 
edge concerning Christ.—As reason reveals Christ.—As faith re¬ 
veals Christ.—Application of the examples to the Eucharist.—The 
senses and the Eucharist.—Reason and the Eucharist.—Faith and 
the Eucharist.—Authority for belief in the Eucharist.—The In¬ 
stitution of the Eucharist.—Christ used no figure of speech in the 
Eucharist.—Allusions of Christ to the institution of the Euchar¬ 
ist.—St. John’s account of the promise of the Eucharist.—The 
force of Our Lord’s words.—A dilemma.—Our actions towards 
the Eucharist.—The Church has always, and will always, adore 
the Eucharist.—The peace of the Eucharist.—Why some do not 
get that peace.—Atonement to Jesus in the Eucharist.—Mass and 
Holy Communion.—The Saints and the Eucharist.—Final appeal. 

Among the many means which God gives us to 
work out our eternal salvation, the greatest and the 
best are the Sacraments. And of all the Sacraments, 
the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist holds the 
first place in the mind and in the heart of every Catho¬ 
lic. 

What is the reason of the pre-eminence given to this 
Sacrament over the others? Because, although in the 
other Sacraments we receive grace indeed in abun¬ 
dance, in the Sacrament of the Eucharist we receive 
not only an abundance of grace, but the very Author 
Himself of grace, Christ Jesus our Lord. The 

164 


ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST 165 

Blessed Eucharist is the greatest miracle of love in the 
whole of God’s fair creation. It is the perpetual and 
perennial fountain whence flows God’s grace into our 
souls. It is the constant renewal of the sublime and 
incomprehensible mystery of the Incarnation. 

That the eternal Son of God, “who, being the 
brightness of His glory and the figure of His sub¬ 
stance and upholding all things by the word of His 
power,” 1 co-equal with the Father and the Holy 
Ghost, should become man, should “empty Himself, 
taking the form of a servant,” 2 and should die an 
ignominious death on the gibbet of the cross, sur¬ 
rounded by a scoffing multitude, is a wonder of love 
that angels and men will admire with rapture for all 
eternity.. Apparently love could go no further, for 
Christ Himself said: “Greater love than this no 
man hath, that a man lay down his life for his 
friends.” 3 He had done this, yea, He had done more; 
He laid down His life, not only for His friends, but 
also for His bitterest enemies. He prayed for the 
pardon of His enemies and of His brutal execution¬ 
ers, crying out from His loving, forgiving Heart: 
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they 
do.” 4 

Can the human intellect think of greater love than 
this ? But what are the human mind and human love 
compared with the Infinite Mind and Infinite Love? 
We are compelled to cry out with the Apostle St. 
Paul: “O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and 
of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are 
His judgments, and how unsearchable his ways!” 5 

And St. John says: “In this we have known the 
charity of God, because He hath laid down His life 
for us.” 6 He not only debased Himself by becoming 

1 Heb. i. 3. 4 Luke xxiii. 34. 

2 Phil. ii. 7. 5 Rom. xi. 33. 

3 John xv. 13. 6 I. John iii. 16. 


l66 ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST 

man; He not only showed the love of His adorable 
Heart for us by pouring forth the last drop of that 
sacred Heart’s blood, but, day by day, “from the ris¬ 
ing of the sun even to the going down,” 7 wherever 
an altar is erected and the holy sacrifice of the Mass 
offered, there Jesus Christ debases, and, as it were, 
annihilates Himself in the consecration of bread and 
wine into His adorable body and blood. 

The holy Sacrament of the Eucharist is a renewal 
of the lowly crib of Bethlehem, for if, in the words 
of St. Paul, Christ “emptied Himself, taking the form 
of a servant”: 8 if He concealed His Divinity 
under His Manhood; how much more humiliating 
must it be to Him to conceal His divine majesty under 
the appearances of bread and wine? St. Thomas of 
Aquin in a beautiful hymn thus addressed our Lord 
in the Holy Eucharist: 

On the cross Thy Godhead only was concealed, 

Here not e’en Thy Manhood is to sight revealed; 

But in both believing and confessing, Lord, 

Ask I what the dying thief of Thee implored. 

Again, the Holy Eucharist is a perpetual memorial 
of Christ’s death on Calvary, for in the holy Mass 
our Lord is mystically slain, and St. Paul says: 
“As often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the 
chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord, until 
He come.” 9 

Wherefore, let us consider what is the mystery of 
the Eucharist, and what should be our love and ad¬ 
oration of Christ in this great Sacrament. The holy 
Sacrament of the Eucharist is the body and the blood, 
the soul and the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
under the appearances of bread and wine. After the 
words of almighty power, the very words first ut- 

7 Mai. i. ii. 9 J. Cor. xi. 26, 

s Phil ii. 7. 










ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST 


167 


tered by our divine Lord at the Last Supper, have 
been pronounced by the priest over the bread and the 
wine, these are instantly changed, by the force of the 
words and the power of God, into the real and liv¬ 
ing body and blood of Christ. It is true that the 
priest and the people see no change; the taste, the 
color, and the appearance of bread and of wine still 
remain. But these are only the accidents, the things 
adhering to the substance, and no more constitute 
bread and wine than the heat of the sun is the sun 
itself. 

In this age of doubt and rationalism, it is the com¬ 
mon boast of men that they will not believe or admit 
anything that does not come under the laws of sense 
perception, or that cannot be proved by the powers 
of human reason alone. They stand up with all the 
pride of Lucifer and reject everything which, accord¬ 
ing to them, is not in agreement with, or rather sub¬ 
servient to, reason. But the motives of belief in the 
Holy Eucharist are entirely in accordance with rea¬ 
son. Nothing ennobles and elevates reason more than 
faith. If our reason tells us of God, and if we know 
well that God has manifested Himself in revelation and 
has spoken truths even beyond the natural power of 
reason to discover, what can be greater, what nobler, 
than to subject our reason to the authority of that 
divine revelation? 

Let me explain and illustrate my meaning in a few 
words. We have three means by which we come into 
contact, as it were, with the sensible, the supersensi¬ 
ble, and the supernatural. These means are the 
senses, reason, and faith. Each is distinct, one from 
the other, and each is certain in its own sphere of 
action. As an example of the first order, take the 
sense of sight; by this faculty we are certainly con¬ 
scious that the sun and the moon give light; we know 
when it is day or night. Our knowledge of these 


1 68 ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST 

and of other similar facts is so certain as to require 
no proof. However, all that our senses can tell with 
certainty is only the appearance of things. Let us 
now turn to reason and see what this faculty can tell 
us. Reason, as we all well know, is of a higher order 
than sense perception, for while we have senses in 
common with the brute, reason belongs to man alone, 
and it is this that raises him above the brute creation. 
Reason passes over the boundaries of sense and pene¬ 
trates into the hidden substance of things. Faith is 
above both sense and reason, it passes over and tran¬ 
scends both, soaring up to the eternal throne of God 
Himself. The Jews, who saw Jesus, who were aware 
of His presence as He went about during His public 
life, doing good to all and preaching the kingdom of 
God, took Him to be only a man and said He was 
the Son of Joseph the carpenter, and that they knew 
His mother and brethren. They stopped short here; 
their senses carried them no further. Nicodemus 
reasoned it out and recognized our Saviour as a teacher 
come from God. ‘‘Rabbi, we know that Thou art 
come a teacher from God; for no man can do these 
signs which Thou dost, unless God be with him.” 10 
Here was a dictate of reason rising above and pene¬ 
trating beyond sense. 

St. Peter knew Christ to be not only a man, and 
“a teacher come from God,” but to the evidences of 
sense and reason God added the illumination of di¬ 
vine faith: “Thou art Christ, the Son of the living 
God.” 11 And Christ told Peter that he had made 
an act of faith: “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: 
because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, 
but my Father who is in heaven.” 12 Here we have 
a true act of divine and perfect faith. Now, let us 

10 John iii. 2. 12 Matt. xvi. 17. 

11 Matt. xvi. 16. 


ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST 


169 


apply these examples and this method of reasoning 
to the Blessed Sacrament. 

Sense reports to us that what we see has the ap¬ 
pearance of bread and of wine, which is very true. 
When our divine Saviour at the Last Supper said of 
the bread and the wine He held in His hands: “This 
is My body: This is My blood of the new Testa¬ 
ment, ” 13 He did not change their appearance; to 
the senses they remained as before. But He changed 
the underlying substance of the bread and the wine 
into the substance of His body and His blood. Our 
reason tells us that that which looks like bread and 
wine and tastes like bread and wine ought naturally to 
be bread and wine. Such is the report of sense and 
reason unaided by faith. 

But now divine faith steps in and tells us that what 
appears to be bread and wine and naturally is bread 
and wine in substance, is no longer bread and wine, 
but, by the power of God in the words of consecration 
pronounced upon them, they become the real and 
living body <and blood of Christ. For our belief 
in the reality of Christ's presence in the Holy 
Eucharist we have the authority of our divine Lord 
Himself. On that awful night of His betrayal and 
agony, before He was to be separated from them, our 
blbssed Saviour gathered around Him His chosen 
twelve, and then at the Last Supper instituted the 
Blessed Sacrament. The Evangelist St. Matthew, 
speaking of that Supper, says: “Whilst they were 
at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: 
and gave to his disciples, and said: Take ye, and eat. 
This is my body. And taking the chalice, He gave 
thanks, and gave to them, saying: Drink ye all of 
this. For this is My blood of the New Testament, 
which shall be shed for many unto the remission of 
sins." 14 Could words be clearer than these? Christ 


13 Matt. xxvi. 26, 28. 


14 Matt. xxvi. 26-28. 




170 


ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST 


did not say: This looks like My body; for, it did not; 
nor did He say: In this, or, with this, is My body; but 
He said absolutely: “This is My body.” And several 
times, during His public life, our blessed Saviour 
alluded to the institution of the Blessed Sacrament; it 
seemed to be the uppermost thought in His mind; He 
seemed to long for the moment to come when His 
Father had decreed He should institute this most ador¬ 
able Sacrament; He yearned with all the love of His 
most Sacred Heart for the coming of that time in 
which He would testify to men how much He loved 
them. We read in the sixth chapter of St. John’s 
Gospel that Jesus, speaking to the multitude which 
followed Him, said: “Amen, amen I say to you; 
Moses gave you not bread from heaven, but My 
Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For 
the bread of God is that which cometh down from 
heaven, and giveth life to the world. They said 
therefore unto Him: Lord, give us always this 
bread. And Jesus said to them: I am the bread 
of life; he that cometh to Me shall not hunger: 
and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst. 
The Jews therefore murmured at Him, because He 
had said: I am the living bread which came down] 
from heaven.” 15 Notwithstanding the murmurs 
and evident disbelief of His hearers, our blessed Lord 
repeated His former statement more explicitly: 
“Amen, amen I say unto you: He that believeth in 
Me hath everlasting life. I am the bread of life. 
Your fathers did eat manna in the desert and are 
dead.” 16 You can easily see the force of our Lord’s 
expression. He wished to convey to the carnal minds 
of His hearers that the manna which was miraculously 
rained down from heaven upon their fathers in their 
wanderings of forty years in the desert lands, and 
which nourished only their bodies, was but a type of 


15 John vi. 32-36; 41. 


16 John vi. 47-49. 




ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST 171 

the heavenly manna of the Eucharist, which is to 
strengthen, not our body, but our soul during the 
pilgrimage of this life. Our divine Saviour again 
repeated: “This is the bread which cometh down 
from heaven: that if any man eat of it, he may not 
die. I am the living bread which came down from 
heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live 
forever; and the bread that I will give is My flesh, 
for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove 
among themselves, saying: How can this man give 
us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said to them : Amen, 
amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh 
of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you shall 
not have life in you. He that eateth My flesh, and 
drinketh My blood, hath everlasting life: and I will 
raise him up in the last day. For My flesh is meat 
indeed: and My blood is drink indeed. He that eat¬ 
eth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, 
and I in him.” 17 St. John continues his narrative 
by stating: “After this many of His disciples went 
back: and walked no more with Him.” 1S 

Jesus either meant what He said, that is, He in¬ 
tended His words to be taken literally, or He did not. 
If He meant what He said, then the teaching of the 
Catholic Church on the Eucharist is of divine faith, 
and consequently must be believed. If He did not 
mean what He said, why did He who is Truth itself, 
who is the Light of the world, and who came to save 
all men, allow so many of His disciples to depart, when 
a simple explanation of His words would have been 
sufficient to keep them with Him? No, He meant 
that His words should convey just the very idea they 
naturally do convey. Can any one then, after these 
words of our Saviour, and after these proofs, rea¬ 
sonably deny the real presence of the body and the 
blood, the soul and the divinity of our Lord Jesus 

17 John vi. 50-57- 18 John vi. 67 . 


172 


ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST 


Christ in the Holy Eucharist? The truth of the pres¬ 
ence of Jesus in the Holy Sacrament being now 
proven, the question that naturally comes to ouu 
ntinds is, how should we manifest ito bur divine 
Saviour our love and veneration for so wonderful a 
gift. 

The answer is, first and above all, by adoration; 
for if we are bound to adore God, and if the Holy 
Eucharist is the perpetual presence of God abiding 
with us, we must therefore adore Him in the Blessed 
Sacrament, for this is “the Word that was made flesh, 
and dwells among us . . . full of grace and truth.” 19 
Adoration of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist is the test 
of Catholic belief; it is the mark by which we are 
distinguished from unbelievers. We worship Him in 
the Holy Eucharist as Peter, James and John wor¬ 
shipped Him in His transfiguration upon Mount 
Thabor in Galilee, and heard the voice of His Father 
saying: “This is My beloved Son in whom I am 
well pleased: hear ye Him.” 20 

The Catholic Church, by divine intuition, knows and 
teaches the mystery of the presence of our Lord in 
the Eucharist, and adores Him in it throughout the 
whole w'orld. She has adored Him in this Holy 
Sacrament from the beginning, and will continue to 
do so until He will come surrounded by His angelic 
court to judge the world. 

This adoration contains all the power of grace and 
truth by which we are sanctified. For Jesus on the 
altar is the centre of the Sacraments, and the Author 
of all holiness and sanctity. He is our Friend, our 
Kinsman, and our Brother; He has the same nature 
with us, sin alone excepted. He knows our infirmi¬ 
ties, and pities our misfortunes; He sends us trials 
so that we may have recourse to Him more frequently, 
and trust Him more confidently. Will we, then, re- 

19 John i. 14 . 20 Matt. xvii. 5 . 



ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST 


173 


fuse to listen to His loving invitations? He is con¬ 
tinually inviting us to come to Him: “Come to Me, 
all you that labor, and are burdened, and I will re¬ 
fresh you. Take up My yoke upon you, and learn 
of Me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: 
and you shall find rest to your souls. For My yoke 
is sweet and My burden light.” 21 If you have any 
trials and troubles (who is there that has not?), come 
to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, for He is ever ready 
to hear and comfort you. Pour out to Him your tale 
of woe, as the child tells its troubles to its mother; 
He will lighten your burden or strengthen you to 
bear it, and send you away consoled and strengthened 
for new contests against the devil, the world, and the 
flesh. Oh! you cannot realize how much peace you 
will get if you tell Him your trials and sufferings. 

The great misfortune is, that people are so cold, 
and think so little of our Saviour. When they visit 
Him on the altar or receive Him in holy Communion 
they are cold and indifferent and choose rather to seek 
consolation from others than from Him. This is the 
reason He does not hear them. If they would place 
their whole trust in Him, ah! then their prayers would 
be heard and their burdens lightened. Adore Him, 
then, in this Holy Sacrament; frequently visit Him, 
and as often as possible devoutly receive His most 
precious body and blood in holy Communion. By 
your love and adoration make some little atonement 
for your personal coldness and for all the outrages, 
sacrileges, and impieties offered to Him in this Holy 
Sacrament since its institution. 

Jesus! my Lord, my. God, my All! 

How can I love Thee as I ought? 

And how revere this wondrous Gift 

So far surpassing hope or thought? 

.Sweet Sacrament! we Thee adore! 

Oh, make us love Thee more and more! 

Father Faber. 


21 Matt xi. 28-30. 








I 74 


ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST 


And remember always when in the church that you 
are in His presence—the presence of the Second Per¬ 
son of the Most Holy Trinity made Man, and act and 
behave in accordance with this belief. Every time 
you assist at the holy sacrifice of the Mass, and when¬ 
ever you visit Him, if you do not go to holy Com¬ 
munion in reality, communicate at least spiritually, 
by desiring to receive Him. Remember that at the 
holy sacrifice of the Mass you are an assistant, a 
participant of the greatest action that ever was or 
ever will be performed on earth—the renewal and 
perpetuation of Christ’s death on Calvary. 

The sound of a low, sweet whisper 
Floats over a little bread, 

And trembles around a chalice, 

And the priest bows down his head! 

The sight of a Host uplifted! 

The silver-sound of a bell! 

The gleam of a golden chalice. 

Be glad, sad heart! ’tis well; 

He made and He keeps love’s promise, 

With Thee all days to dwell. 

(‘'Feast of the Sacred Heart,” by Rev. Abram J. Ryan.) 

The saints were enraptured with the love of Jesus 
in the Holy Eucharist. They loved to be in His 
presence, and when other duties took them for a time 
from Him, they ardently longed to be back again, 
to pour out their heart’s love at His feet. It is re¬ 
lated of St. Philip Neri that, when celebrating Mass, 
he used to be wrapt in ecstasy, speaking to and look¬ 
ing at our divine Lord in the host. And this is one 
of the many examples that could be brought forward 
to show the love, the ardent love of the saints for 
Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. 

If we do not imitate the saints in all things, let us 
do more than we are now doing towards Christ in 
this Sacrament of love and humiliation. If we can- 






ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST 


175 


not be wrapt in ecstasies, we can at least visit Him 
sometime during the day to adore Him here in the 
tabernacle, the voluntary prison-house of His love. 
We can often devoutly receive Him in holy Com¬ 
munion, and then, ah! then we can speak to Him as 
a friend does to a friend. 

And the hearts of Christ and the Christian 
Meet there—and only there. 

—Rev. Abram J. Ryan. 

And when the sands of life are fast running out; 
when the evening of life is coming upon us, oh! let 
us like the disciples beg our dear Jesus to remain with 
us: “Stay with us, because it is towards evening, 
and the day is now far spent.’’ 22 And then the Lord 
will remain with us, and the veil of the Eucharist 
will grow more and more transparent, until at last, 
when we shall stand in the presence of Him whom 
we loved in life, our eyes will not be dim, and we 
shall clearly see the ravishing beauty of the Son of 
God and Son of Mary, Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. 


22 Luke xxiv. 29 . 



ON FAITH 


“By grace you are saved through faith, and that 
not of yourselves,, for it is the gift of God.” 
(Ephes. ii. 8.) 


SYNOPSIS 

Man is composed of soul and body.—The angelic and the 
animal.—What this compound implies in man.—The senses.— 
What reason alone is capable of.—What divine faith is capable 
of.—What is divine faith?—God is truth.—The reason of Reve¬ 
lation.—Faith can be rejected.—Human and divine faith con¬ 
trasted.—Apprehension and comprehension.—Revelation is most 
reasonable.—The merit of faith; in what it consists.—Agnosti¬ 
cism.—Its effects on men and society in general.—The necessity 
of Revelation.—To know God by reason is not faith.—The con¬ 
dition of the world without faith.—St. Paul and the Roman 
world.—Civilization and faith.—The modern world and faith.— 
The reasonableness of faith.—Faith is a gift of God.—Three 
things essential to it.—Miracles and prophecy to prove Revelation. 
—St. Paul on the Prophets and Christ.—Who is God and how 
must we adore Him?—Faith is absolutely necessary for salvation. 
—What faith does for human reason.—Faith can be easily lost.— 
Infidelity.—Immorality.—Pride.—Faith is consistent with the 
highest learning and greatest human enterprise.—How faith is 
cherished.—St. Paul’s faith. 

Man is a compound of the angel and the animal. 
The angelic part of him is his soul; the animal part 
is his body. He has in himself properties which ally 
him with the material things around him, and the facul¬ 
ties which raise him above the world of sense and 
carry him far beyond into the realm of things un¬ 
seen—even to the very throne of God, his Creator. 
The animal is ever tending towards animality; the 
angel yearns for spirituality. The animal loves the 
gratification of the senses; the angel, the pure joys 

of the spirit. The body is ever on the watch for its 

176 








ON FAITH 


177 


own material sustenance and nourishment; the soul 
longs to break through the barriers of sense and fly 
to its own congenial spirit world. Even as man is 
so constituted as to embrace in himself the two great 
orders of material and spiritual things, so the very 
essence of his being demands a correspondence in his 
life and actions to the two same great orders. Of 
the first he is cognizant by means of his bodily senses, 
by which he comes in contact with the world around 
him. With the second he can become acquainted only 
by the faculties of his soul—of his higher and nobler 
self. Experience is nearly always his teacher in the 
use or abuse of the things of sense; by it he perfects 
and raises himself in the scale of civilization. The 
grand achievements in art and in industrial science, 
which in these later times have been accomplished, 
give us but a foretaste of what man is capable in the 
world of sense. But were we to confine ourselves to 
the order of sense and reason alone, were we never 
to look beyond that which can be felt and seen, were 
we to eliminate from our lives the things unfelt and 
unseen, we should be, indeed, like unto blind men 
glorying in their blindness. Beyond and above the 
limited region of the senses there rises the illimitable 
world of faith. The horizon of the senses is limited 
by its very nature, that of faith is essentially un¬ 
bounded. The eyes of the body perceive the limita¬ 
tions of the things of sense; the eyes of the soul are 
dazzled by the beauty and il'limitability of the things 
of faith. 

Faith rises above and penetrates beyond the things 
of sense. It draws aside the curtain that conceals 
the Divinity and gives us a glimpse of things unseen 
and undreamt of by carnal man. It raises man above 
himself; above the level of this world, and carries him 
aloft upon soaring wings to the throne of God, to 
hear things not given to man to speak. 



ON FAITH 


178 

What then is faith? “Faith,” says St. Paul, “is 
the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence 
of things that appear not.” 1 Again, faith is a di¬ 
vine virtue, by which we firmly believe in God and in 
all those sacred truths which He has revealed to man¬ 
kind upon the authority of His word alone. 

God is truth itself. To doubt anything revealed 
by Him is to doubt His veracity and offer Him the 
greatest insult that could possibly be offered Him. 
When God speaks, He does so for a definite end and 
purpose. When He speaks to mankind, He does so 
to lift up our race to a higher and clearer knowledge 
of Himself and impart to us truths, some of which 
could never be known by us, and others that could 
be known only by the slow, laborious reasoning of 
the learned few. The truths of faith have always a 
certain obscurity hanging about them and forming a 
part of their essence, otherwise no merit would attach 
to faith itself. St. Paul says: “We know in part, 
and we prophesy in part; but when that which is per¬ 
fect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. 
We see now through a glass in a dark manner ; but 
then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall 
know even as I am known.” 2 In human faith, we 
accept a statement upon the authority of another, who 
is liable to be deceived and to err; in divine faith, 
we accept the revelation upon the authority of God, 
who can neither deceive nor be deceived. For how 
can the All-Holy, All-Loving, All-Truthful deceive? 
How can we conceive the Omniscient subject to de¬ 
ception? Belief in God presupposes the contrary. 

We accept the testimony of man in almost every re¬ 
lation of life. We accept, without the shadow of a 
doubt, the lives and actions of men who have long 
since departed, upon the historical testimony of other 
men; we are as sure of the existence of lands and of 

1 Heb. xi. 1. 2 I. Cor. xiii. 9, 12. 






ON FAITH 


179 


peoples we have never seen as we are of our own liv¬ 
ing personality. Who can then refuse to believe the 
truths God* has revealed, even if he cannot understand 
them? “If we receive the testimony of men, the testi¬ 
mony of God is greater.” 3 It is folly to say we 
stultify ourselves by believing what we cannot com¬ 
prehend, or what is apparently contradictory, for we 
cannot comprehend many of the physical things in 
the world around us, and yet we firmly believe in their 
existence. “Hardly do we guess aright at things that 
are upon the earth, and with labor do we find the 
things that are before us. But the things that are 
in heaven, who shall search?” 4 Reason and experi¬ 
ence can never tell us the things of faith; they must 
be revealed by God, and through His grace be be¬ 
lieved by us. Therefore it is the highest, the most 
reasonable service of man to subject his fallible judg¬ 
ment and reason to the authority of God’s revelation. 
All the merit of faith arises from this—that we be¬ 
lieve, upon the authority of God’s word alone, that 
which we neither see nor comprehend. Human opin¬ 
ions may vary, the testimony of one age may contra¬ 
dict that of another, philosophers may vie with one 
another in elaborating systems of thought, but though 
the heavens shall fall, “the just man lives by faith”, 5 
for he stands upon firm ground, and that ground is 
the authority of God’s unerring word. 

If we believe in God, and if God has spoken, what 
can be nobler or more excellent than to believe His 
word? Nowadays men are to he found who assert 
that we cannot know God by the light of reason, that 
the creature cannot find his Creator. He is the un¬ 
knowable, because they do not know Him. This is 
the worst kind of ignorance and is very humiliating 
to our human nature. Those who claim to be the 

3 I. John v. 9. 5 Rom. i. 17. 

4 Wis. ix. 16. 








i8o 


ON FAITH 


leaders of thought in this present age are beyond all 
men intolerant, despotic, and tyrannous. God, if there 
be a God, say they, is not the highest object of man’s 
adoration and worship. They place human progress 
as the first and only thing to be attained; they de¬ 
throne the Creator of heaven and earth, and in His 
place exalt themselves. Faith, religion, morality are 
to them merely empty words without any real ob¬ 
jective existence. Think not for a moment that the 
system of philosophy which dethrones God has noth¬ 
ing to do with the vast bulk of mankind; for just as 
the snow of the mountain-top thaws* under the rays of 
the sun and filters down in rivulets to the valley until 
it forms a mighty river, so these pernicious systems 
of thought filter down amongst the unthinking classes 
of people and like a torrent sweep every thing before 
them. 

Anarchy, destruction of life and property, the ter¬ 
rible social upheavals that threaten the existence of 
States and Nations, are the outcome of want of faith 
in God and His overruling providence. 

We know that man could never arrive at the knowl¬ 
edge of certain truths of which he is possessed, were 
it not that God has spoken to us through His duly- 
accredited witnesses. It is necessary that God should 
have given us a revelation. For although the reason 
of man is imperative in its demand for a First Cause, 
yet were that reason unassisted by revelation, man¬ 
kind would, indeed, be in a deplorable condition of 
ignorance regarding it. 

The necessity of God’s revelation is clearly demon¬ 
strated by the history o'f the Gentile world. The 
polytheism of the vast bulk of mankind, the dis¬ 
torted ideas of God which the pagan philosophers held 
and taught, clearly proved the necessity of a new rev¬ 
elation through Jesus Christ our Saviour. For, al¬ 
though we have the light of reason to show us the 








ON FAITH 


181 


existence of God, yet we have the clearer light of 
revelation to guard us against the illusions of our 
passions and illumine our way from earth to heaven. 
What would man be if left merely to the light of 
reason? Look over the history of the ancient na¬ 
tions before the coming of Christ, and the answer is 
as clear as the noon-day sun. Behold ancient Rome, 
one of the greatest cities the world has ever known. 
Its immense population of over a million inhabitants is 
gathered together from every part of the known world; 
temples are seen everywhere; its public squares and 
edifices are adorned with idols of false gods. The 
civic and religious life of Rome, the great capital of 
the world, was saturated with false worship. The 
deities of the countries conquered by her, together 
with their worship, were carried into this city, until 
faith in the Creator of the universe was totally 
obliterated and the most frightful religious chaos 
ensued. 

We behold the unfortunate people paying divine 
homage to every being in the heavens above, or on the 
earth beneath, or in the waters upon the earth, whilst 
God the Creator of all is forgotten. The sun, the 
moon, the stars are worshipped; every sea and river, 
every grove and forest, every avocation and function 
of life, had its own special deity to be propitiated; 
every passion, every vice, was deified, and the most 
frightful orgies of impurity and of drunkenness were 
carried on under the protection of the gods. Purity 
and impurity, war and peace, honesty and theft, each 
had its own protecting deity, to which men paid their 
vows and offered the homage of their lives. No won¬ 
der St. Paul said the Romans “changed the glory of 
the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of 
corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed 
beasts and creeping things . . . and worshipped 
and served the creature, rather than the Creator, who 


ON FAITH 


l 82 

is blessed forever.” 6 And these same conditions were 
to be found, not only in Rome, but everywhere 
throughout the world except among the Jews. The 
nations most remarkable for their natural gifts sank 
the lowest in the scale of revelation. To the Chald¬ 
eans are we indebted for the beginnings of astronom¬ 
ical science; Egypt was the wonder of the world for 
her highly-developed civilization, while other nations 
were barbarous and rude—her monuments are amaz¬ 
ing to the modern architect and can hardly be dupli¬ 
cated even to-day; Phoenicia was the greatest com¬ 
mercial nation of her time; Greece produced her poets, 
her orators, her statesmen and her sculptors, and the 
poets and orators and statesmen and sculptors of the 
present day consider themselves immortal if they but 
imitate their works. Yet these nations were pro¬ 
foundly darkened in regard to religious truth. 
Throughout the Gentile World the most degraded 
ideas regarding the Creator of heaven and earth every¬ 
where prevailed. The gods of the pagan were feared 
with a servile, slavish fear, and human victims were 
offered to propitiate them. The Christian idea of the 
Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man never 
for a moment entered the pagan mind. Some may 
have risen above their fellows in their conception of 
the Supreme Deity, but their ideas were so vague 
that they never had any appreciable influence upon the 
vast mass of mankind, while they repudiated in their 
public lives what they vaguely held in private. 

Such would man be to-day if left in religious mat¬ 
ters to the guidance of unaided reason. Revelation 
was absolutely necessary, and God munificently 
vouchsafed it. But how are we to know definitely 
that God has spoken? How separate the dream and 
vagaries of the human impostor from the word of the 
Divine Witness? 

6 Rom. i. 23-25. 



ON FAITH 


183 


The prelude or preamble of faith is a process of 
reasoning. Faith is an intellectual acfi for reason 
goes before faith, accompanies it and pervades it. 
The last act of reason must be full and complete be¬ 
fore the first act of faith begins. We believe because 
we are convinced. But this belief is a pure gift of 
God, for the Apostle says: “By grace you are saved 
through faith, and that not of yourselves—it is a gift 
of God, lest any man glory.” 7 

Now, three things are essential to divine faith. 
First, it is a gift of God, through the Holy Ghost. 
Secondly, the object of faith is a truth revealed by 
God. Thirdly, the reason why we believe is the au¬ 
thority of God Himself. Although a man’s reason 
may be most acute, although he may clearly see the 
truth, yet he may not embrace it and follow it, unless 
grace be given him from above. 

God has spoken to us through His witnesses, and 
has confirmed their testimony by miracles and proph¬ 
ecy. The prophets of old testified to the Spirit 
who spoke through them, by their holy lives, by their 
foreknowledge of the future, and by their many mirac¬ 
ulous works. The Almighty Father placed along the 
pathway of time His witnesses, who, lighting up the 
way, as beacon lights, pointed out the road to mankind. 
Ever and anon, God sent some messenger with glad 
tidings to man, until the days came when the angels 
announced the gladdest tidings of all, the culminat¬ 
ing work of the Godhead, when Jesus Christ, the Son 
of God, came in person, “and dwelt among us.” Yes, 
“God who at sundry times and in divers manners 
spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets; last 
lof all, in these days hath spoken to us by His Son, 
whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom 
also He made the world.” 8 Jesus came and dispelled 
the darkness of ignorance and error in which mankind 

7 Ephes. ii. 8. 8 Heb. i. 1, 



184 


ON FAITH 


was enveloped. He had let in a flood of light, where 
hitherto there was complete darkness; He had directed 
mankind in the ways of truth and of righteousness. 
The idols of the old civilization have fallen prostrate 
at His feet and God stands out luminously, not a 
God of fear and terror, not a God to be served by 
superstition, nor placated by human sacrifice, but God 
our Father who is in heaven. “God is a spirit, and 
they that adore Him,” said Jesus, “must adore Him in 
spirit and in truth.” 9 Never was truer word uttered 
than this. God is a spirit infinite in love, in mercy, 
and in justice; He is omnipotent as well as omni¬ 
scient, and to the revelation of Jesus we owe our 
knowledge of these and of all tjie religious truths 
flowing from them. 

Oh, how precious, how vital is faith! “Without 
faith,” says St. Paul, “ it is impossible to please 
God.” 10 A human being endowed with reason, if 
deprived of faith, is stunted and withered, just as a 
tree is stunted and withered for want of moisture. 
Life without faith is hardly worth living. Around 
us we behold trouble and trial, evil and sin; without 
faith in God it is impossible to explain the existence 
of these things. 

Faith elevates and ennobles man’s reason, illuminates 
and perfects it. By faith we are raised from the lit¬ 
tle things of earth, and we behold the great things 
of heaven. Faith draws aside the curtain which con¬ 
ceals the Divinity and gives to man a vision of things 
of which his reason never thought. Faith gives to 
reason new instincts, new faculties, new intuitions. 
It is by faith we see what cannot be seen by the eyes 
of sense, and by faith we lay hold of the things be¬ 
yond. God’s kingdom, the unseen and unfelt world 
beyond the grave, the sacramental graces, the power 

9 John iv. 23. 10 Heb. xi. 6. 


ON FAITH 


185 


of prayer, become as real to us as the very ground 
we walk upon. Faith becomes the motive power of 
our whole life; by it “we live and move, and are”; 11 
it admits us to the fellowship of those who have gone 
before and as saints with God are enjoying the beatific 
vision. St. John says: “That which we have seen 
and heard we declare unto you, that you also may have 
fellowship with us, and our fellowship may be with 
the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. . . . And 
this is the declaration which we have heard from Him, 
and declare unto you: That God is light, and in 
Him there is no darkness. If we say that we have 
fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, 
and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as 
He also is in the light, we have fellowship one with 
another and the blood of Jesus Christ,, His Son cleans- 
eth us from all sin.” 12 

Yet this great gift of faith, so necessary for salva¬ 
tion, so precious as to be above all other gifts of 
God to man, may be very easily lost. As it is a 
gift, man by his own fault may squander it, may lose 
it by sin. Chastity, charity, piety, are gifts destroyed 
by mortal sin, and so the same can be said of faith. 
For although a man may lose charity, or the love of 
God, by mortal sin, and yet retain his faith, still there 
are certain habits of life which will make a man lose his 
faith. The practise of tampering with this precious 
gift; of making light of the commands of God and of 
His Church; of minimizing the dogmas of faith to 
suit the whims of men, may very easily bring a man 
to the total darkness of unbelief. The reading of 
irreligious literature, seductive as it is, has led many 
a man from the faith and plunged him into the sea 
of doubt and unbelief. It has been said: “It is true 
that a little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to athe- 

11 Acts xvii. 28. 12 I- John i. 3, 5-7. 


ON FAITH 


186 

ism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds 
about to Religion.” 13 

Infidelity destroys faith as fire destroys that with 
which it comes in contact. If men wantonly expose 
themselves to the seductive reasoning of infidels, if 
men indolently refuse to correspond with the graces 
of the Holy Spirit, the light of that Holy Spirit will 
be quenched for them forever and their lives will go 
down in eternal darkness. 

Besides infidelity, immorality destroys faith, for 
“The fool said in his heart, there is no God,” 14 be¬ 
cause the wish is father to the thought. Why should 
the immoral man wish there were a God? If God 
exists He will surely punish the crimes of the im¬ 
moral man; therefore, it were better for him no God 
existed. Little by little, day by day, by slow and 
imperceptible degrees, the soul of the libertine is 
stupefied and the deadly coma of infidelity is soon 
upon him. 

Pride and perversity argue away the miracles of 
Christ and His 'Apostles as things to be believed only 
by pious women and children. Men deny the exist¬ 
ence of God and even their own existence because 
“they have eyes and see not. They have ears and 
hear not,” 15 and no man is so blind or deaf as he who 
will neither see nor hear. 

Faith makes a man not less a man. Faith is con¬ 
sistent with the highest learning and the greatest 
enterprise. The man of faith is as free as the air, 
he has the freedom of a son of God. He is not 
bound down to the opinions and whims of men; he 
bases his belief upon the authority of God’s unerring 
word. He is as a strong, well-lDuilt ship, ready to 

13 Bacon, On Atheism. 15 Ps. cxv. 5, 6. 

14 Ps. lii. 1. 




ON FAITH 187 

brave the storms and sail over the ocean of life into 
the safe harbor upon the eternal shore. 

Cherish then the gift of faith by piety and prayer. 
Have a filial love and affection for God who has re¬ 
vealed Himself to us as our Father. Pray that your 
hearts and intellects and wills may be always docile 
to the Spirit of God. Cleave to God’s revelation, 
for God is truth and cannot deceive. Act up to the 
dictates of your faith and never be ashamed of it, for 
your faith is a test of your love: “He that hath My 
words and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me.” 
Then when life shall have passed away, faith will 
become vision, the trial will lie over, the battle won, 
the victory complete. “And this is the victory which 
overcometh the world, our faith.” 17 

Then can we cry out with the great Apostle of the 
Gentiles: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished 
my course, I have kept the faith. As to the rest, 
there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the 
Lord, the just judge, will render to me in that day.” 1B 
Amen. 

16 John xiv. 21. 18 II. Tim. iv. 7, 8. 

17 I. John v. 4. 


1 


ON HOPE 


“For we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen 
is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he hope 
for? But if we hope for that which we see not: 
we wait for it with patience.” (Rom. viii. 24, 25.) 

SYNOPSIS 

Human life is full of sorrow and trouble.—Where is the 
remedy for sorrow and suffering?—Hope is the remedy.—What 
is Christian hope?—The present and the future.—The value of 
hope.—Men and hope.—God and hope.—God is our Father and 
He is love.—The yoke of Christ is easy.—St. Paul on hope and 
faith.—“We are saved by hope.”—Hope and the fear of God.— 
Hope and humility.—Hope and faintheartedness.—Hope and des¬ 
pair.—Our own infirmities.—What is presumption?—A grievous 
sin.—Hope is based on God’s promises.—St. Peter’s presumption. 
—A holy death is the reward of a holy life.—What is despair?— 
The horror of despair.—The despair of Judas.—Hope and the 
world.—Hope and the sorrowing.—Is there no room for hope? 
—Jesus our only hope.—The Beatitudes.—Humanity has ever 
hoped.—Hope and fruition.—Courage.—War and peace. 


In the Book of Job it is written: “Man born of a 
woman, living- for a short time, is filled with many 
miseries.” 1 This is as true a saying as ever issued 
from the lips of man, and contains in itself an epitome 
of the condition of man's life upon earth. From the 
time of the primeval transgression down to this very 
hour, the wail of sorrow and of suffering is continually 
ascending from man to the mercy seat of God. Gene¬ 
ration comes after generation, century succeeds cen¬ 
tury, and yet no cessation of this universal grief can 
be found. Man's first cry on entering this world is 
a cry of pain, and the same cry goes forth 
with his last sigh. From the cradle to the grave, 

1 Job xiv. 1. 


188 






ON HOPE 


189 


from the prattling, innocent babe to the gray-haired 
old man, life “is filled with many miseries/’ Sorrow 
and trouble and trial seem to be the natural lot of 
man; his pathway is strewn with thorns; his life is 
bathed with tears. Youth, in the full possession of 
its faculties, has its own peculiar sorrow; old age is 
not exempt from grief; the rich as well as the poor, 
the king even as the beggar, the pontiff and the humblest 
cleric—all, all are subject to this universal grief and 
sorrow. At all times, and in all places, from North 
to South, from East to West, the cry of suffering has 
ever gone up from mankind to its God. In the hum 
and din of the busy city, in the quiet and peaceful¬ 
ness of the most retired cloister, pain and sorrow have 
found their way, and are gnawing upon the vitals of 
men. 

Is there no remedy for this universal sorrow? Is 
man ever to be burdened by this all-pervading grief? 
Is there no consolation for him, no break in the cloud 
of woe? Surely there is, for every cloud has a silver 
lining, the darkest dawn precedes the brightest day. 
Where shall we turn for this consolation? Shall we 
go to our brothers in misfortune? Yes, they may 
weep and lament with us, but they are in sorrow like 
unto ourselves. Shall we “take wings early in the 
morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the 
sea?” 2 But even there, we are ourselves, and “are 
never less alone than when alone.” Whithersoever 
we go, grief and trouble are by our side. Shall we 
turn to science and philosophy? But what can sci¬ 
ence and philosophy do to assuage our grief? Where, 
then, shall we find rest? I answer: only in the re¬ 
ligion of Jesus Christ, and in the hope of eternal sal¬ 
vation it holds out to us. 

Hope in Christ and in the fulfillment of His prom¬ 
ises is the only thing which can calm our troubled 

2 Ps. cxxxviii. 9- 



ON HOPE 


I90 

breasts and soothe our aching hearts. O Christian 
hope! in thee alone we find the north-star in the dark¬ 
ness. Thou alone art the light to the tempest-tossed 
soul! Thou alone art the strength and joy of our 
lives! What would: we be without thee? Mere atoms 
in the vast universe. Had we not thee, O beautiful 
Christian virtue! to buoy us up and guide us over the 
dark, stormy waters of life, our lives would begin in 
darkness, would continue in sullen discontent, and 
would go down into the dark, unfathomable ocean of 
cheerless, rayless grief and black despair. With thee 
ever beckoning us onward, we can become heroic! 
Without thee, we are listless and apathetic! With 
thee, life is bearable and even joyous; without thee, 
life becomes a blank! 

What, then, is the Christian virtue of hope? Hope 
is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue, by which we 
expect with confidence all that, God has promised us. 
Hope is a desire for God and a childlike trust in Him. 
By faith we believe, by hope we desire. Faith reveals 
to our reason that God created us for Himself, that 
He made us to know Him, love Him, and serve Him 
here and throughout the ages of eternity. If we live 
for anything below this exalted standard, we fall short 
of the reason of our being, for the end of the human 
soul is not wealth or position or earthly pleasure, or 
even the whole world; no, the end of the human soul 
is God. “Thou hast made us for Thyself,” cries out 
St. Augustine, the glorious Bishop of Hippo, “and 
our heart is restless until it repose in Thee.” 3 Noth¬ 
ing can satisfy the hunger or slake the thirst of the 
soul but God. He has planted in it this ardent, un¬ 
quenchable desire; and this desire can be fulfilled only 
by hope in this world and possession in the world 
to come. Hope to the Christian is the foretaste of 


s Conf. Book I. Ch. I. 










ON HOPE 19I 

the Beatific Vision, the stretching out in time to the 
fruition in eternity. 

Hope, like the gleaming taper’s light, 

Adorns and cheers the way; 

And still, as darker grows the night, 

Emits a brighter ray. 

Goldsmith, “The Captivity.” 

Gocl has made us for a two-fold existence: the 
present and the future, the material and the spiritual. 
The one we enjoy in the present, the other we hope 
for in the future. The present life is the battle-field, 
where we have to fight; the future life is the one 
wherein the reward will be given to the victorious. 
The present life is a storm-tossed ocean; the future is 
a haven of eternal rest. We are wayfarers in this 
world on our way to our heavenly home; ‘Tor we 
have not here a lasting city, but we seek one that is 
to come.” 4 Hope leads our thoughts from this life 
to the one that is to come. Hope bids us look up to 
heaven, and keeps its promises before our eyes. 
Hope is the standard upon the field of battle; it may 
be obscured by the smoke, it may be torn by shot and 
shell, but the soldier carries it bravely forward until 
he plants it upon the ramparts. Hope is 

A beam of comfort, like the moon through clouds, 

Gilds the black horror, and directs our way. 

Dry den. 

Hope springs eternal in the human breast. 

Pope, ‘‘Essay on Man.” 

God is the only end which can satisfy the soul of 
man. With Him it is in possession of all its desires; 
without Him, all is lost. Things may come and go, 
beings may live and die, sorrow and trouble may rush 
in upon us like a torrent, but hope, sweet hope, will 

4 Heb, xiii. 14. 


192 


ON HOPE 


buoy us up in all the vicissitudes of life, and carry 
us safely to the farther shore. The man who places 
his hope in the changing things of this world is like 
to a man chasing a phantom; he imagines he has it 
in his grasp, when lo! it is as far from him as ever. 
But he whose hope is in God cannot be disappointed, 
for his hope is based upon the Eternal and Unchange¬ 
able. The more we know God by faith the more we 
hope and trust in Him, for faith tells us that God is 
truth, and “we believe because God is the truth,” 
says St. Augustine. Through this belief we are as 
sure that the Almighty will fulfill His promise as we 
are that God is. Men make protestations of their 
love, but their words may belie their hearts; men may 
have honied words upon their lips and poison in their 
hearts. But when we rest our hope upon the God 
of truth, we stand upon an immovable rock, and can 
defy the fury of wind and wave. This it is which 
made St. Paul say: “I know whom I have believed, 
and I am sure that He is able to keep that which I 
have committed to Him, unto that day.” 5 

So it is with us by Christian hope; for we have made 
trial of the character and heart of God, and we know 
our salvation is secure in His hands, if w r e but dc 
what Pie asks us. It is only by our own experience 
that we can exclaim with the Psalmist: “Taste and 
see that the Lord is sweet. Blessed is the man thal 
hopeth in Him.” ^ Than this foundation, nothing 
can be more solid, for a deceitful God is a contra¬ 
diction. God can no more deceive than He can cease 
to be. The best word Jesus has given us of God is 
that He is our Father, and St. John tells us “God is 
charity.” 7 As a building rests upon its foundations 
so our hope rests upon the foundations of our heavenly 
Father’s promises. Christ says to the hopeful anc 

B II. Tim. i. 12. 7 I. John iv. 16. 

6 Ps. xxxiii. 9. 






ON HOPE 


193 


toiling: “Come to Me, all you that labor and are 
burdened, and I will refresh you. Take up My yoke 
upon you, and learn of Me, because I am meek and 
humble of heart; and you shall find rest to your 
souls.” 8 

By Christian hope we desire God; if we would enter 
life everlasting we are bound to love Him above all 
things, and it is impossible to hope in Him or love 
Him without faith. St. Paul says : “Every one com¬ 
ing to God must believe that He is, and that He is a 
rewarder.” 9 Behold the obligation of hope founded 
upon faith. Faith tells us that if we fight valiantly 
the reward wi'll surely be ours! Hope leads our 
thoughts beyond the passing things of this life to the 
immutable things of the life to come. Faith gives 
knowledge of things unseen; hope stretches forth her 
j hand to grasp them. Faith imparts to us an intel¬ 
lectual appreciation of God; hope moves our wills to 
possess Him. The duty of hoping in God is abso¬ 
lutely imperative; without hope we cannot be saved, 
for the Apostle says: “We are saved by hope.” 10 

The more dearly we prize anything the more we 
fear its loss. Christian hope brings with it a holy 
fear, lest we may lose the Chief Good, the end of our 
existence—the possession of God in eternity. And 
just in proportion as we fear, we hope. “Blessed is 
the man that feareth the Lord. . . . His heart is ready 
to hope in the Lord.” 11 The pain of loss is incom¬ 
parably greater in the reprobate than the pain of 
sense, for man’s soul longs to fly to God, and yet that 
longing will always be unsatisfied in those who have 
died without fear and hope. What a solace, then, is 
hope, and how necessary for salvation! Hope makes 
us trustful of God and distrustful of ourselves. By 
this Christian virtue we are made humble, and we 

8 Matt. xi. 28, 29. 10 Rom. viii. 24. 

9 Heb. xi. 6. 11 Ps. cxi. 1, 7. 






194 


ON HOPE 


trust in the Blood of Jesus Christ. We know that 
“we are not sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, 
but our sufficiency is from God.” 12 And therefore, 
“if any man think himself something, whereas he is 
nothing, he deceiveth himself,” 13 for “as the branch 
cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, 
so neither can you, unless you abide in Me; for with¬ 
out Me,” says Jesus, “you can do nothing.” 14 Al¬ 
though we should be humble, under the hand of God, 
yet by hope we can do anything possible to man. 
With God as our helper, what can we not accomplish? 
“If God be for us, who is against us?” 15 “All our 
sufficiency is from God”; 10 and “it is God who worketh 
in us both to will and to accomplish, according to 
His good will”; 17 and therefore, “He who hath be¬ 
gun the good work in us, will perfect it unto the day 
of Christ.” 18 j 

There are, then, no barriers to our salvation ex¬ 
cept what we raise ourselves., The jheight of the 
mountain may sometimes terrify us and cause faint¬ 
heartedness, but if we; call to our assistance holy 
Christian hope, the rugged paths will become more 
pleasant, the distance will appear shorter, and strength 
will always be with us to gain the summit. 

Abandon hope, and what is left? Nothing but the 
blackest despair. As long as men have hope, they 
struggle and fight for the mastery, as long as the 
soldier upon the field of battle has the faintest glim¬ 
mer of hope he fights bravely; but the moment he ! 
loses hope he throws down his arms and gives up the 
contest—hope has fled; all is lost. Confidence and 
trust in God is the foundation of Christian hope, for 
by it, in the words of St. Paul, “when I am weak, 

12 II. Cor. iii. 5. 16 II. Cor. iii. 6. 

13 Gal. vi. 3. 17 Phil. ii. 13. 

14 John xv. 4. 18 Phil. i. 6. 

15 Rom, viii. 31. 





ON HOPE 


195 


then I am powerful.” 19 The wholesome fear of God 
is brought about by the knowledge of our own in¬ 
firmities and shortcomings, yet this ought only to 
increase our confidence and hope in Him and en¬ 
courage us “with fear and trembling to work out 
our salvation.” 20 Although we know God will not 
refuse us His grace when we ask it of Him, yet we 
should fear that in our own perversity we may not 
fly tO' Him at the proper time. And the reason is, 
because the more one sees his own misery, and throws 
himself into the arms of God, the more he pleases 
and honors Him, for, “the Lord taketh pleasure in 
them that fear Him, and them that hope in His 
mercy.” 21 But it is only by the testimony of a good 
conscience that we can have any hope in God, for, 
“if our heart do not reprehend us, we have confidence 
towards God.” 22 

Now, it is possible to sin against this sweet Chris¬ 
tian virtue; and, alas! this is often done by either ex¬ 
cess or defect—by presumption or by despair. What 
is presumption? It is a vain and rash expectation 
of eternal happiness and of the means to obtain it 
without performing the conditions which God re¬ 
quires. This is a grievous sin—a sin against the 
Holy Ghost and a mockery of God. How can a man 
lay any claim to the kingdom of eternal glory if he 
will not use the means to attain it? Is it not the 
height of folly to live in sin in the vain hope that re¬ 
pentance will come before death; or that God is too 
good to suffer the presumptuous man to be lost? Yet 
the Wise Man says: “Say not, I have sinned, and 
what harm hath befallen me? for the Most High is a 
patient re warder. . . . And say not, the mercy of 
the Lord is great, He will have mercy on the multi¬ 
tude of my sins. For mercy and wrath quickly come 

19 II. Cor. xii. 9 - 21 Ps - cxly i. n. 

20 Phil. i. 12. 22 I. John iii. 21. 




196 


ON HOPE 


from Him, and His wrath looketh upon sinners. De¬ 
lay not to be converted to the Lord; and defer it not 
from day to day. For his wrath shall come on a 
sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will des¬ 
troy thee.” M 

Hope is based upon the unerring promises of God; 
presumption is founded upon ourselves. Hope uses 
the means God has placed at its disposal; presumption 
throws them away and vainly imagines it will be 
saved. With hope, we avoid the proximate occasions 
of sin; with presumption, we remain in those occa¬ 
sions, relying upon our own strength. Those who 
thus presume upon their own strength to overcome 
passion, to avoid temptations, or acquire any virtue, 
will soon find out to their cost how weak and frail is 
unaided human nature. 

The master had trained St. Peter under His own 
eye and hand; He had raised him up to be the leader 
and head of the Apostles; He had given him the great¬ 
est dignity on earth; and yet presumption overcame 
him; his fall was a frightful one, and a warning to 
every Christian. Often does the Almighty abandon 
the proud, presumptuous man to his own ways, and 
then we can witness the most lamentable consequences. 
The presumptuous should remember that the greatest 
saints made the greatest efforts to be saved, and that 
St. Paul says: “I chastise my body, and bring it into 
subjection,” 24 because he feared he might become a 
castaway. It is presumption to imagine we can live 
virtuously without controlling our passions, without 
often reflecting upon the great truths of salvation, 
without frequenting the Sacraments. It is the greatest 
folly to imagine we shall die the death of the saint 
by living the life of the sinner. 

The; opposite of hope by defect is the greatest 


23 Ecclus. v. 4-9. 


24 I. Cor. ix. 27. 







ON HOPE 


197 


calamity that can befall a man—the terrible, blight¬ 
ing horror of despair. It is the distrust of obtaining 
eternal happiness or of the means by which it is pro¬ 
cured. Nothing so fearful can come upon a man as 
this; it paralyzes all his energies, renders him as one 
dead. The glorious sunlight of heaven for him no 
longer shines; he is groping in the dark, whilst every¬ 
thing about him is bathed in the effulgence of God’s 
love and of God’s mercy. For him, the parables of 
the Prodigal Son and the Good Shepherd; for him 
the forgiveness of the Magdalen; for him the death 
of Jesus upon the cross—all, all are gone for nothing. 
The promises of our heavenly Father are null and void 
and fall upon deaf ears. For others the world is bright 
and joyous; for him, no joy here or hereafter. Oh, 
what an awful darkness of soul is this. Despair 
directly attacks the unbounded love and mercy of God, 
and esteems the infinite merits of Jesus Christ as 
nothing. It shows how poor and mean an idea one 
has of God’s fidelity, and wounds Him in Flis most 
beautiful attribute of mercy. It destroys the filial 
fear we should have of our heavenly Father, and the 
despairing man exclaims: “All hope is lost!” 

Of my reception into grace; what worse, 

For where no hope is left, is left no fear. 

Milton, “Paradise Regained.” 

He cries out with Job: “I have done with hope, 
I shall now live no longer.” 25 Under the influence 
of this horrible nightmare, what can be his end? 
Does he look forward to a peaceful, happy end? 
Will the evening of life come upon him bearing peace 
with its lengthening shadows? Will he lay down 
his burden after the day’s labor is over to seek and 
find rest? Oh, no! his life will be extinguished in 
darkness, and be blown out in the whirlwind of de- 

25 Job vii. 16. 



198 


ON HOPE 


spair, for, “hope had fled, and all within was 
gloom.” 26 The end of the despairing is often the 
fate of Judas, whom Jesus kissed and called His 
friend even after he had betrayed Him. The end of 
him who has no hope is the end of the suicide: “and 
casting down the pieces of silver in the Temple, he 
[Judas] departed; and went out and hanged himself 
with a halter.” 27 Oh, what a frightful, terrible thing 
is despair! “All that I have,” cries out Job, “shall 
go down into the deepest pit, thinkest thou that there 
at least I shall have rest?” 28 

In these our days an outcry is raised against this 
hope, which only religion awakens in our hearts. 
Men would pin our thoughts to this present life, and 
forbid us to soar aloft to the throne of God. Hope, 
they say, is an idle dream, a fallacy long ago ex¬ 
ploded. But do these men ever experience the rack 
of pain? Do they ever feel the pangs of hunger? 
Have their souls ever been afflicted by sin, by tempta¬ 
tion or trouble, or wounded by the poisoned shafts of 
envy and slander ? Have they ever knelt beside the 
deathbed or stood over the open grave of a father, a 
mother, a wife, or a sister? Have they ever been 
trampled upon, and ground to the earth by the world’s 
wicked oppression? The vast bulk of the world’s 
population is in anguish. And by the sweat of his 
brow, by daily toil from sunrise to sunset, man can 
hardly keep up with the race for existence. Would 
men have us believe that this is our all; that there 
is nothing beyond? Is the captive always to carry 
his clanking chains and never breathe the pure air 
of heaven? Perish the frightful thought! 

Does the burden of life seem heavy to you? Does 
your heart ache and your thoughts fly from this to a 
brighter, happier home ? Look up, raise up your 

26 Tennyson, “The Suicide.” 28 Job xvii. 16, 

27 Matt, xxvii. 5. 



ON HOPE 


199 


hearts, ye God-created and God-redeemed people! 
Your Father is in heaven looking down upon you, 
watching your exertions, and waiting to reward you. 
“For I reckon the sufferings of this time are not 
worthy tO' be compared with the glory to come, that 
shall be revealed in us.” 29 Jesus Christ, our Saviour, 
draws all men to Himself; He is the great Model of 
patient suffering. From His cross He preaches res¬ 
ignation and holy hope, and His arms are outstretched 
for us all. From that cross He looked out over the 
world and down the generations of men, and saw the 
vast tide of suffering surging beneath Him. All the 
tears, all the heart-aches, all the hopes and fears of the 
human race were known and felt by Him. “Blessed 
are the poor; blessed are they that mourn; blessed 
are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake.” 
Why, O suffering sons of Adam! why are you blessed, 
when the world looks upon you as accursed? Be¬ 
cause Jesus says: “For theirs is the kingdom of 
heaven.” 30 “Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribula¬ 
tion” ; 31 remember that your home is not here, but 
in heaven. 

The sublimest record of humanity is the record of 
its hope in God. Behold the noble army of martyrs, 
and witness their sufferings, their death, their 
triumph! Remember the privations of the holy men 
and women of old endured without a murmur of 
complaint. Look around you to-day and see all the 
suffering and trial and privation voluntarily endured 
for the sake of the thorn-crowned and crucified Jesus 
and for the alleviation of suffering humanity. What 
does it all mean? Is it all gone for nothing? Is 
there no hope of reward beyond the grave? Oh, yes! 
hope, sweet hope is everywhere in the world. It is 
in the hut of the poorest as in the palace of the rich- 

29 Rom. viii. 18. 81 Rom. v. 3, 

3 & Matt, y» 


200 


ON HOPE 


est. It is with us wherever we go, from the first 
dawn of reason to the last breath we breathe. Hope 
in God accompanies us before His dread tribunal. 

Therefore, weep not. ' To-day God gives you 
strength to suffer; to-morrow He will crown you with 
glory. Be of good courage; life is but a short span 
to eternity. Some day the prison-gates will open 
and we shall issue forth into the sweet sunlight of 
God’s presence. “There the wicked cease from 
tumult, and there the wearied in strength are at 
rest.” 32 Courage! Drink your cup of sorrow with 
resignation; others have drained it to the dregs before 
you. Your hearts may be full of sorrow; “you shall 
lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and 
you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall 
be turned into joy .” 33 Remember, “they that sow 
in tears shall reap in joy .” 34 and “God shall wipe 
away all the tears from their eyes; and death shall 
be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow 
shall be any more, for the former things are passed 
away.” 35 The days of sorrow and exile will be for¬ 
gotten in the joys of home. Heaven is before us, 
it is ours; but the only way to enter it is through the 
gate of tribulation; for “through many tribulations 
we must enter into the kingdom of God.” 36 Amen. 


32 Job iii. 17. 

33 John xvi. 20. 

34 Ps. cxxv. 5. 


35 Apoc. xxi. 4. 

36 Acts xiv. 21. 







ON CHARITY 


1 hou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole 
heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy 
strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as 
thyself.” (Luke x. 27.) 

SYNOPSIS 

To love God is the need of man.—Love is the fulfilling of the 
law. What is a lover ?—On earth, only man can love.—St. Paul 
on love.- ^ ove i 11 heaven.—Spenser.—What is Christian charity? 

God is love.—The special precept of Jesus Christ.—Charity 
necessary for salvation.—St. Paul’s praise of charity.—Not all 
love is charity.—Kinds of love.—The highest love is for the 
highest good.—The love of friendship.—Love of predilection.— 
Love of God with heart, soul, strength, and mind.—It is either 
love or hatred in eternity.—Everything must be loved in God.— 
How God loves us.—Love and suffering.—Our lives must corres¬ 
pond with our protestations of love.—Faith, hope, charity.—What 
love does for God’s glory.—Who is our neighbor?—Love of God 
and love of neighbor—branches of the same stem.—We must 
love our neighbor as we love ourselves.—The example of Christ. 
—The golden rule.—Love must be sincere.—Love in the early 
Church.—Love will be the test at judgment.—Love, the royal road 
to hell is easy.—Good intentions do not save.—Definition of con¬ 
sists in doing, not saying.—St. Paul’s definition of charity.—St. 
Paul’s appeal for the love of God. 

The end of our'creation is the love of God. The 
Almighty has placed us in this world that we might, 
by believing in Him, hoping in Him, and loving Him, 
attain the end for which He created us. God is the 
source of our being and the end to which we nec¬ 
essarily tend. He is our Creator, our Redeemer, and 
our Sanctifier. He is our Father; we are His chil¬ 
dren. Lie has endowed us with understanding and 
free will, and “has made us a little less than the 
angels.” 1 

1 Ps. viii. 6. 


201 


202 


ON CHARITY 


Being our Creator, He expects from us the ad¬ 
oration of the creature; being our .Redeemer, He longs 
for our souls so dearly bought; being our Sanctifier, 
He loves us with an unspeakable love, and as our 
Father He requires from us the filial love of chil¬ 
dren. Therefore “love is the fulfilling of the law.” 2 

The more man loves God the more perfectly he ful¬ 
fills His commandments; he is holy who perfectly ful¬ 
fills the law, for in doing so he avoids evil and does 
good. “And this is charity,” says St. John, “that 
we walk according to His commandments.” 3 The 
lover is one in whom the action corresponds to the 
mind; the lover is he who with all his strength does 
the will of the one whom he professes to love. Love 
cannot exist without correspondence and communica¬ 
tion. Love is ever solicitous for its beloved; it de¬ 
lights to reciprocate. 

Man is the only being upon the earth into whose 
soul the Creator has poured the wine of love. The 
brute is impelled by instinct; man is governed by rea¬ 
son. Not a single expression of love ever enters the 
brutal nature; man is softened and refined by love— 
the love of God and of his fellow-being. Love is that 
heavenly element in which and by which we live for 
God and our fellow-man. Love is the crown and the 
queen of the virtues. “And now there remains faith, 
hope, and charity, these three; but the greatest of 
these is charity.” 4 The measure of man’s holiness is 
the measure of his love, for holiness is the effect of 
love, and love is the cause of holiness. 

The blessed inhabitants of heaven always remain 
holy, because they never cease to love. Faith may 
pass into vision, hope may attain its fruition, but love 
remaineth as long as God shall be God. “Put me 
as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm: for 

2 Rom. xiii. io. * p Cor. xiii. 13. 

3 II. John i. 1, 


ON CHARITY 


203 


love is strong as death; jealousy as hard as hell. . . . 
Many waters cannot quench charity; neither can the 
floods drown it; if a man should give all the sub¬ 
stance of his house for love, he shall despise it as 
nothing.” 5 

Love is life’s end; an end but never ending; 

All joys, all sweets, all happiness awarding; 

Love is life’s wealth (ne’er spent but ever spending), 

More rich by giving, taking by. discarding; 

Love’s life’s reward, rewarded in rewarding. 

—Spenser. 

O Jesus! who dost love Thy Father with an in¬ 
finite love, and hast laid down Thy life for love of 
us, grant us to fulfill Thy grand precept of love. 

What is Christian charity or love? It is a divine 
virtue infused into our souls, by which we love God 
above all things and our neighbor as ourselves for 
the love of God. It is a divine virtue, because “love 
is of God . . . and God is love, and he that abideth in 
'love abideth in God, and God in him.” 6 It is infused 
into our souls, “because the love of God is poured 
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.” 7 By it we 
love God above all things, “for if any man love the 
world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 8 By it 
we love our neighbor for God’s sake, for “if God hath 
so loved us: we ought also to love one another. If we 
love one another, God abideth in us.” 9 

This, then, is the sublime, wonderful precept of 
Jesus Christ, a precept never before given so clearly 
to the world, the grand principle upon which all moral¬ 
ity is based—the Fatherhood of God and the brother¬ 
hood of man. Love of God and of our fellow-man 
is absolutely necessary for salvation. Without this 
love it is as impossible to be saved as to live without 

1 

5 Cant. viii. 6, 7. 8 I. John ii. 15. 

6 I. John iv. 7, 16. ®I. John iv. 11, 12. 

T Rom. v. 5. 


204 


ON CHARITY 


food. Light and darkness cannot exist in the same 
place at the same time; so neither can the love of 
God exist in the soul without the love of our fellow- 
man. The pardon of our sins is nothing else but 
the pouring into our souls of God’s love and charity. 
Without this love nothing is of any avail for eter¬ 
nal life. “If I speak with the tongues of men and 
of angels, and have not charity, I am become as a 
sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I 
should have prophecy, and should know all mysteries, 
and all knowledge; and if I should have all faith, 
so that I could remove mountains, and have not 
charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all 
my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver 
my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profi¬ 
ted! me nothing.” 10 Why is this? The answer 
is in the words of the disciple of love, St. John: 
“He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is 
charity.” 11 

Now all charity is love, but all love is not charity. 
Love is far wider than charity, because there are many 
kinds of love. First, we have in us the love of na¬ 
ture; we naturally desire that which is for our good 
and for our happiness. God made us so. He has 
placed in us the hunger and thirst of the soul for 
that which is for our good. We cannot help our¬ 
selves: desire the good we must. Secondly, we have 
supernatural love, which alone is properly called 
charity. It is the love of appreciation, for the Latin 
word charltas, from which we have charity, signifies 
the value or price we set upon anything. We prize 
or appreciate one another according as we are dear 
to one another. Then there is the love of predilec¬ 
tion, by which we make a selection or choice, by which 
we are drawn towards some persons in preference 
to others. And lastly, there is the love of friendship, 

I. Cor. xiii. 1 - 3 . 11 1. John iv. 8. 



ON CHARITY 


205 


the highest, purest, noblest form of love. We have 
in us by grace these four forms of love. God is the 
Chief Good; He embraces in Himself all loveliness, all 
holiness, all perfection, and as we must necessarily 
tend towards good, the highest object of the human 
soul must be God. If we fail in tending towards 
Him, if our hearts are occupied with anything less 
than Him, we fall away from the end of our exist¬ 
ence, we fulfill not His command. We are bound to 
have for God a love of predilection, or of preference 
—that is, a love by which we prefer Him above all 
created things. This is the real essential tribute by 
which we render homage to the sovereignty and to 
the loveliness of His Being. He commands us to 
love Him, not with a love of sensible feeling; He 
spurns a constrained or forced love; He asks us to 
love Him because He is infinitely lovable and because 
He is our Father. The highest love is the love of 
friendship, by which we love God for His own sake, 
and desire for Him all the honor and glory creatures 
are capable of giving Him. It is an unselfish love, 
for perfect charity casts out self, and thinks only of 
its beloved. In proportion as we think less of self 
and more of God our love of God is pure. 

Self-love is the curse of mankind; it is the abuse 
and perversion of that legitimate love of self the 
Creator has implanted in the soul of man. “Self- 
love never yet could look on truth/’ 12 and “The sel¬ 
fish heart deserves the pain it feels.” 13 The legiti¬ 
mate love of self teaches us that we are made by 
God, that we are His creatures, that we have no rights 
over ourselves except those the Creator has given us. 
If we are God’s creatures, we are bound to respect 
the rights and feelings of other God-created creatures 
like ourselves. 


12 Johnson. 


13 Young, “Night Thoughts.” . 



206 


ON CHARITY 


He prayeth well, who loveth well 
Both man, and bird and beast.” 

“He prayeth best, who loveth best 
All things both great and small. 

Coleridge, “Ancient Mariner.” 

St. Augustine has well said: “Love God and do 
what you please”; and the meaning is that those whose 
lives are governed by this love are free, because their 
lives are in conformity with the will of God. St. 
Bernard says: “The measure of loving God is to 
love Him without measure.” If love should be pro¬ 
portioned to the beauty and goodness and excellence 
of the beloved, God should be loved with the highest, 
the most eminent degree of love. But amid the 
many distracting cares of this life, it is impossible 
for us to love Him as the blessed do in heaven; it 
is only when the curtain shall have been drawn aside, 
and we shall obtain the vision! of! Godi’s unveiled 
loveliness, that we can pour out the fullness of our 
love in perfect happiness. However, although we 
cannot pretend to the fervor of those who are in 
possession of the Beatific Vision, yet we are bound, 
as far as our nature can go, to love God with our 
whole heart and soul. This is the essence of di¬ 
vine charity; it is the first and greatest of all com¬ 
mandments. To love Him in the manner indicated 
in the precept is to give Him the first place in our hearts 
and affections; it is to love Him in preference to 
every created thing, more than ourselves, and better 
than our very lives; it is to be disposed to part with 
everything the world calls good—our reputations, our 
fortunes, our lives, rather than depart from His law 
or forfeit His friendship by sin. If we love Him 
we must make Him the principal object of our 
thoughts, the center of our desires, the beginning and 
the end of our pursuits. We must use the faculties of 
our souls and the senses of our bodies to render 



ON CHARITY 


207 


praise and glory to Him. His love will admit of 
no rival; His 'love must be the love of the whole heart 
or it will be spurned and despised by Him. We cannot 
love Him and love the world; we “cannot serve God 
and mammon.” 14 Therefore we are bound to “love 
! God with our whole heart, and with our whole soul, 
and with all our strength, and with all our mind.” 
There must be no power of the body, no faculty of the 
I soul which does not tend towards Him, which is not 
occupied with Him, which does not devote itself to 
Him. 

We may adopt the principles and maxims of the 
* world, we may run on and on in a career of crime; 
but sooner or later the end will come, and if our lives 
do not end in the love of God, our eternity will be 
one of hatred towards Him. Our Saviour is clear 
and explicit upon this point: “Every one of you 
that doth not renounce all that he possesseth, cannot 
be My disciple.” 15 Unless we renounce all that we 
'love more than God, He will renounce us. God must 
be the highest object of our desires, because He is 
the highest good. The world, friends, relations, our 
own lives, must be loved in subjection and in relation 
to Almighty God. “What have I in heaven,” cries 
out the Psalmist, “and besides Thee, what do I de- 
1 sire upon the earth?” 16 God, being our Creator, has a 
perfect right to demand the love and obedience which 
belong to Him; for just as the king demands the 
obedience of his subjects, as parents demand the love 
of their children, so our great King and Father ex¬ 
pects from us love and obedience. Heaven and earth 
proclaim to us on every side the necessity of this 
love. They proclaim the glory and grandeur of God 
with a loud voice, for “the heavens show forth the 
glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work 

14 Matt. vi. 24. 16 Ps. Hi. 25. 

15 Luke xiv. 33. 




208 


ON CHARITY 


of His hands.” 17 Wherever we turn we are struck 
by the wonderful beauty and harmony of the universe, 
and this beauty and harmony tell us of God's love for 
man. From Him we have received existence, and to 
Him we are indebted for everything we have; He is 
the breath of our nostrils, the pulsations of our hearts. 
We are indebted to Him for creation, redemption, 
sanctification, and preservation. The Almighty 
Father sent His beloved Son, Jesus, into the world 
to be for all the ages and generations of men the 
sublimest, most heroic object of love the world has 
ever beheld. He gave up His life in contempt and 
pain, in love and obedience to His heavenly Father, 
that we might love God and be saved. He gave up 
His life that we might live; He showed us the su¬ 
preme proof of his love; for “greater love than this 
no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his 
friends.” 18 

To suffer cheerfully in the service of one we love 
is the natural consequence of sincere love. What 
toils and sufferings do not parents undergo for their 
children! What will a loving wife not do for her 
husband! She is his comfort in trouble and trial 
and sickness. The world may frown upon him; he 
is everything to her. He may be vanquished by the 
world, but the love of a good wife will make him 
victor. So it is with the love of God. We must, if 
we wish to prove our love, bear patiently the trials 
and sufferings of 'life in imitation of the patient and 
suffering Jesus. 

We should “glory in our tribulations, knowing that 
tribulation worketh patience, and patience trial, and 
trial, hope.” 19 We must be prepared to suffer trial, 
for as gold is tried by fire, as friendship is proven by 
suffering, so “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus 

17 Ps. xviii. 2. 19 Rom. v. 3. 

18 John xv. 13. 







ON CHARITY 


209 


shall suffer persecution.” 20 “Through many tribu¬ 
lations we must enter into the kingdom of God.” 21 
“The brightest crowns that are worn in heaven have 
been tried and smelted and polished and glorified 
through the furnace of tribulation.” 22 The Apostles, 
the martyrs, all the holy men and women who ever 
lived, gave up everything for the love of their cruci¬ 
fied Master. In imitation of Him they took up their 
cross and carried it bravely over the dolorous way of 
life, remembering that He said: “If any man will 
follow Me, let him deny himself, and take up his 
cross and follow Me”; 23 and “Whosoever doth not 
carry his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My 
disciple.” 24 

Charity requires of us actual love. It enjoins upon 
us the necessity of the correspondence of our pro¬ 
testations of love with the actions of our lives. “Not 
every man that sayeth to Me, Lord, Lord!,” said 
Christ, “will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but 
he who doeth the will of My Father, he will enter into 
the kingdom of heaven.” 25 It is vain and foolish 
to protest that we love, if our hearts belie us, for 
God looks to the heart, and says to each one of us: 
“My son, give Me thy heart.” 26 We may flatter 
men by vain protestations, we may play the part of 
the hypocrite and strive to deceive them, but God 
sees the innermost recesses of the heart. Faith and 
hope carry us along through life to the golden gates 
of heaven; charity, the queen of the virtues, unlocks 
those gates and ushers us in before the throne of God, 
to remain with him forever. 

Charity begets zeal for God’s glory. She is ac¬ 
tive when His honor is at stake. She knows no 

20 II. Tim. iii. 12. 

21 Acts xiv. 21. 

22 Chapin. 

23 Mark viii. 34. 


24 Luke ‘xiv. 2. 

25 Matt. vii. 21. 
20 Prov. xxiii. 26. 



210 


ON CHARITY 


fatigue when there is a question of serving Him. 
She is always at peace with herself and the 
world. Like the eagle soaring towards the sun, 
she wings her flight aloft to the very throne 
of God and from the heights of heaven looks down 
upon mankind. Charity loves God for His own 
sake, and because she loves Him, she embraces 
in her loving arms all the God-created and God-re¬ 
deemed sons of men. She looks upon every man as 
her neighbor, for she says with St. Augustine: ‘‘Our 
neighbor is every man who may be with us in the life 
of the blessed.” By our neighbor, we are not to 
understand merely our relations, our friends, our 
countrymen, or our co-religionists. This word, so 
often used in the Gospels, comprises all men. Charity 
must be universal; otherwise, it is narrow, cold, and 
cynical, and comes not from the heart of God. Love 
for our neighbor is the distinguishing mark of a 
Christian; “by this,” says Christ, “shall all men know 
that you are My disciples, if you have love one for 
another.” 27 

The love of our neighbor is an extension of the love 
of God. So necessary is it, that it is impossible to ful¬ 
fill the one without complying with the other; for as 
in loving our neighbor, for the sake of God, we love 
God, so in loving God we must necessarily love our 
neighbor. To love God and hate our neighbor is as 
impossible as to have sin and sanctity at the same time 
in the soul. St. John, the disciple of love, says: “If 
any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is 
a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he 
seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not? And 
this is the commandment we have from God, that he 
who loveth God, love also his brother.” 28 

The love of God and the love of our neighbor are 
branches of the same vine of charity. Separate 

27 John xiii. 35. 28 John iv. 20, 21. 




ON CHARITY 


211 


them from the vine and they die. Our blessed Saviour 
has given us a beautiful example of universal charity 
in the parable of the good Samaritan. He has shown 
us that our charity should not be confined to our own 
kith and kin, to our own countrymen, or co-religionists, 
but that our hearts should go out to all men, irrespec¬ 
tive of blood, race or religion. The grand precept of 
charity tells us to love our neighbor as we love our¬ 
selves, that we should love him as Christ hath loved 
us. Our neighbor is a human being like ourselves, he 
has the same feelings, and the same common disposi¬ 
tions. Therefore the rule should be “Judge of the dis¬ 
positions of thy neighbor by thyself.” 39 

The meek and humble Saviour of the world, by His 
words and example, showed unto men the golden rule 
of charity. His whole life was the greatest example 
of charity the world had ever seen. He began and 
ended His mission by the inculcation of charity. 
Never before was it brought so clearly before men that 
they should do to others as they wished others would 
do to them. The world had sunk down into selfish¬ 
ness and personal hatred; Christ came to change this 
selfishness and hatred into love and and self-forget¬ 
fulness. “You have heard, that it has been said, thou 
shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy. But 
I say to you, love your enemies, do good to them that 
hate you, and pray for them that persecute and calum¬ 
niate you.” 30 Again, can anything be grander or 
nobler than this precept of the loving Redeemer: 
“All things whatsoever you would that men should do 
to you do you also to them” ? 31 

Our love for ourselves prompts us to wish such 
treatment from our fellow-man as is calculated to 
make us happy. It gives us pleasure and happiness 
when our neighbor treats us well. Why, then, will it 

29 Ecclus. xxxi. 18. 31 Matt. vii. 12. 

30 Matt. v. 43. 


212 


ON CHARITY 


not give our neighbor happiness when we treat him 
as he expects? If we love our neighbor as we love 
ourselves, we must do to him all that we wish he would 
do to us. We are ever ready to form favorable judg¬ 
ments of ourselves and of our actions. We are 
ingenious to find a thousand pretexts to excuse our 
conduct in the eyes of the world. We hate to con¬ 
demn ourselves and wish others to have as good an 
opinion of us as we have of ourselves. Therefore, if 
we love our neighbor as we do ourselves, we 
must judge him as we do ourselves. Our love 
must be sincere and single, and not feigned or two- 
faced. We must “with a brotherly love, from a 
sincere heart, love one another earnestly.” 32 If 
our love is not sincere, if our love is empty, 
if it is a love merely of words, and not of 
actions, the charity of God is not in us. For “he that 
hath the substance of this world, and shall see his 
brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him, 
how doth the charity of God abide in him? My 
little children, let us not love in word nor in tongue, 
but in deed and in truth.” 33 In the early days of 
the Church this brotherly love shone out conspicuously 
before the eyes of men; it was the distinguishing mark 
of the early Christians, so much so that Tertullian 
relates that the pagans were wont to exclaim in ad¬ 
miration : “See how these Christians love one an¬ 
other !” jj 

Our blessed Redeemer will deaJl out rewards or 
punishments on the last day to those who have loved 
or hated their neighbor. Christ loved us with a 
gratuitous and sincere love; He loved us without any 
merit on our part and delivered Himself up to death 
without the expectation of any benefit from us in 
return for His love. Therefore, if we would love 
our neighbor as Christ loved us, we should not consider 
82 I. Pet. i. 22. ' 33 John iii. 17. 








ON CHARITY 


213 


whether it be agreeable or disagreeable to our nature. 
We must not love for any worldly advantage, but be¬ 
cause every man is our brother in Christ, and God is 
the Father of all. “This is My commandment,” says 
Jesus, “that you love one another, as I have loved 
you.” 34 

This is the royal road, this is the king’s highway 
to heaven; all those who have entered therein, must 
have practised this precept, for there is no other way 
to be saved. True charity founded on the love of 
the Sacred Heart of Jesus opens out wide her arms, 
and embraces all without exception. She rejoices 
with them that rejoice, and weeps with them 
that w'eep 35 She dries up the tears of the troubled, 
she lays a soothing balm upon the aching heart; 
she speaks words of gentleness, kindness, and com¬ 
fort into the ear of the despised, the forsaken, and 
the forlorn; she stretches out a helping hand to the 
weak and feeble; and she is a staff to the old and totter¬ 
ing. No form of suffering is unheeded by her, no 
disease so loathsome that she will not nurse, no death¬ 
bed beside which she will not stand and smooth the 
dying brow. 

Pure in her aim, and in her temper mild, 

Her wisdom seems the weakness of a child; 

She makes excuses where she might condemn, 

Revil’d by those that hate her, prays for them; 

Suspicion lurks not in her artless breast, 

The worst suggested, she believes the best; 

Not soon provoked, however stung and teased, 

And, if perhaps made angry, soon appeased; 

She rather waives than will dispute the right, 

And injur’d, makes forgiveness her delight. 

Cowper. 

Christianity is a religion of action, and not of empty 
words. If our works proclaim one thing and our 
words another, we are liars before the face of God. 

34 John xv. 12. 35 Rom. xii. 15. 





214 


ON CHARITY 


“Charity is patient, is kind; charity envieth not, 
ciealeth not perversely, is not puffed up, is not ambi¬ 
tious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, 
thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth 
in truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, 
hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never 
faileth, whether prophecies shall be made vpid, or 
tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed.” 36 
This, then, is true Christian charity; this is what it is 
to love God and our neighbor. This is what every 
Christian must have, if he wishes to be a follower of 
Him who poured out His heart’s Blood for love of us. 

“Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ? 
shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or 
nakedness? or danger? or persecution? or the sword? 

. . . I am sure that neither life, nor death, nor 
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things 
present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor 
depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate 
us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our 
Lord.” 37 Amen. 


30 I. Cor. xiii. 4, 8. 


37 Rom. viii. 35. 



ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


“Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it 
not from day to day. For His wrath shall come on a 
sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will destroy 
thee.” (Ecclus. v. 8, 9.) 

SYNOPSIS 

God s call from the beginning. — The voice of conscience. — 
Visible signs of God’s will.—The danger of delay.—God’s pur¬ 
pose in man’s creation.—The hypnotism of the devil.—Has God 
promised time?—Procrastination.—Christ came to make salvation 
easier.—No time for God.—Time for the world.—Some sell their 
souls for nothing.—Subtle temptation of the devil.—The descent 
to hell is easy.—Good intentions do not save.—Definition of con¬ 
version.—Two masters.—Be ready.—Caught in sin.—Making a 
•compact with death.—Death certain, time of death uncertain.— 
God promises pardon to the penitent, not to the delayer.—Longest 
life is short.—What is life?—Postponing certain things for un¬ 
certain.—Faith in heaven and hell.—Sudden death.—Calling priest 
at the last moment.—Many in hell by promises.—Raise your 
hearts to God.—Grace is necessary.—We cannot save ourselves. 
—God gives to all sufficient grace.—The delaying sinner turns 
away from God.—Hardened sinners compared to Lazarus.—St. 
Paul’s conversion.—St. Augustine’s conversion.—pod- calls every 
.day.—Heaven not gained by trickery.—Delaying is a terrible sin. 
—Turn to God at this mission.—Not easier later on.—Habits 
■stronger later on.—Co-operation is necessary.—A dying back¬ 
slider.—Habit is second nature.—How repair the past?—Falling 
back again.—Father Faber on a seared conscience and its punish¬ 
ment.—God will forgive the worst crimes if you sincerely ask 
Him.—Prayer, good confession, and Holy Communion. 

From the very beginning of man’s career of sin on 
this earth, immediately after the fall of our first parents, 
God has been calling upon men to “decline from evil, 
and do good,” 1 to avoid all sin, and turn to Him with 
repentance and love. In one way or another this voice 
of God has been heard, is now being heard, and will 

1 Ps. xxxvi. 22. 


215 


2l6 


ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


be heard until He will come at the last day to judge in 
general all mankind. It has been heard in the warn¬ 
ings of conscience, that gentle, sleepless monitor which 
is always at hand praising or blaming, that voice of God 
within us which without fear or favor is ever telling us 
what we ought to do and what we ought to leave un¬ 
done. No man has ever had the use of reason who 
has not also had the voice of conscience; it is that by 
which man is raised above the brute—man has a con¬ 
science, the brute has none. And not only by the voice 
of conscience, but by visible manifestations has God 
brought before men His mighty power to punish them, 
even in this life, for delay in turning to Him, for trifling 
with His warnings, and for continuance in sin. 

For example, we have the Deluge; then the burning 
of Sodom and Gomorrha and the cities of the plain by 
fire from heaven. And not only by the voice of con¬ 
science and by visible signs has God declared His law 
to men, but He has more clearly done so by revela¬ 
tion. The whole story of the Old Law, as well as 
of the New Law, is the record of God’s dealings 
with men through their sorrow for sin and their 
return to Him by love. Away back as far as we can 
go, even to the very beginning of our race, God Him¬ 
self preached penance to our first parents for the for¬ 
giveness of their sin. Then came the patriarchs 
of olden times, carriers of this primitive revelation; 
and later on He sent His prophets and judges, as 
so many beacon-lights directing men in the way of 
salvation. He raised up these holy men, from time 
to time, as the necessity came, to warn the wayward 
people whenever they fell into sin. The burden of 
their cry was—repentance—repentance—delay not your 
conversion to the Lord your God. The voice of jere- 
mias the prophet resounded throughout the land, and 
the echoes of his voice have come down the ages to us, 
clearly and distinctly. “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, 











ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


217 


the God of Israel: Make your ways and your doings 
good; and I will dwell with you.” 2 And again the 
same holy man speaks as strongly to each of you: 
“Thy own wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy 
apostasy shall rebuke thee. Know thou and see that 
it is an evil and bitter thing for thee to have left the 
Lord thy God, and that fear is not with thee, saith 
the Lord the God of hosts.” 3 

Again, the beautiful figure of the gentle and kindly 
prophet Samuel stands before you as in reality he 
appeared, thousands of years ago, to the people of 
Israel, and speaks words of warning to you now as 
of old he spoke to them: “Return from your wicked 
ways, and keep My precepts, and ceremonies, accord¬ 
ing to all the law which I commanded your fathers; 
and as I have sent to you in the hand of My servants the 
prophets. And they hearkened not, but hardened their 
necks like to the neck of their fathers, who would not 
obey the Lord their God.” 4 You are again told by 
the great preacher of the Old Testament: “Delay not 
to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day 
to day, for His wrath shall come on a sudden, and in 
the time of vengeance He will destroy thee.” 5 Tobias 
calls upon you in a more gentle tone of voice: “Be 
converted, therefore, ye sinners, and do justice before 
God, believing that He will show His mercy to you.” 6 
And so, ever and anon, from the time of Adam’s fall 
even unto the coming of Jesus Christ, God sent messen¬ 
gers and forerunners to prepare men for that final call 
that He was to give through His well-beloved Son. 
And as the time grew apace and the great event sighed 
for by all men for thousands of years was nearing its 
fulfillment, God more distinctly, more clearly, and 
more frequently warned men to delay not their repent- 

2 Jer. vii. 3. 5 Ecclus. v. 8, 9. 

3 Jer. ii. 19. . 6 Tob. xiii. 8. 

4 IV. Kings xvii. 13, 14- 


2 l8 


ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


ance for sin and their return to Him. At last, the 
final blast of the trumpet, sounding forth the coming of 
the King was given, and the son of Zachary and Eliza¬ 
beth, the very personification of penance and humility, 
stood upon the banks of the Jordan. With the voice 
and the authority of all the prophets combined in him¬ 
self, he called upon the people of his own time, as he 
now calls upon you: “Do penance : for the kingdom of 
God is at hand. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make 
straight His paths. For now the axe is laid to the 
root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that doth 
not yield good fruit shall be cut down and cast into 
the fire.'’ 7 During His public life our divine Saviour 
frequently told the people the reason of His coming on 
earth: “They that are well have no need of a phys¬ 
ician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call 
the just, but sinners.” s Plis whole life as exemplified 
in the parables—for instance, of the Prodigal Son, of 
the Good Shepherd, of the woman who lost and found 
the groat, of the joy in heaven over the returning 
.sinner—is one great call for repentance, sorrow, and 
love. He even made a sacrament of reconciliation, by 
means of which repentance and return to God is made 
easier. So also the Apostles, whom He sent out to 
preach in His name, renewed in every place and on 
every occasion the preaching of penance of their divine 
Master and Model. St. Peter, having cured the para¬ 
lytic beggar-man, preached to the crowd that had 
assembled in wonder at the great miracle done in the 
name of Jesus and cried out: “Be penitent and con¬ 
verted, that your sins may be blotted out.” 9 The 
great St. Paul, giving an account of his life, conver¬ 
sion, and calling says: “To the Gentiles did I preach, 
that they should do penance, and turn to God, 
doing works worthy of penance.” 10 It naturally fol- 

7 Matt. iii. 2, 3, 10. 9 Acts iii. 19. 

8 JVfark ii. 1 7 - 10 Acts xxvi. 20. 



ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 2IQ 

lows from all this that the affair of your conver¬ 
sion is the most important thing to engage your 
mind, and that its delay or putting off until another 
time is most dangerous. On what you do in this 
matter hangs an eternity of happiness or misery for 
you—whether you will be with God or without 
Him. If you give heed to that purpose God had in 
creating yon, you are, and will be His followers, 
and indeed His friends. If, on the contrary, you 
are wanting, if you are careless in fulfilling in your¬ 
self His design in placing you on earth, then indeed you 
are deserters to the camp and standard of Satan and 
can expect nothing but damnation if you should die 
rebels. 

This is a most far-reaching and solemn considera¬ 
tion ; think it over, weigh it well in your minds, for 
upon its outcome hangs an everlasting life of weal or 
woe. The devil tries to blind you to the terrible risk 
you run by putting off until some other vague 
time your turning to God; he, as it were, hypno¬ 
tizes you and promises that at some other more 
convenient time, as he makes you think, you can con¬ 
fess, be sorry for your sins, and make it all up 
with God. But has God promised all this? No, 
not by any means! On the contrary, He has threat¬ 
ened the most terrible punishment upon those 
who trifle with His goodness. Remember the words 
of this sermon’s text—it is well that we repeat them: 
“Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it 
not from day to day. For His wrath shall come on a 
sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will destroy 
thee.” Can any one think in the face of a pronounce¬ 
ment like this from the eternal God, who never changes, 
that he can keep on putting off until some other time 
his conversion of heart? “You shall seek Me, and 
shall not find Me,” 11 said Christ to the Pharisees; and 

11 John vii. 34. 


220 


ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


He says the same thing to you who are thinking of 
delay. 

Procrastination is the thief of time; 

Year after year it steals, till all are fled, 

And to the mercies of a moment leaves 
The vast concerns of an eternal scene. 

Young, “Night Thoughts.” 

In order to make it easier and lighter for men, 
Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, came into this 
world to teach them by example and word. He makes 
use of the most endearing expressions and parables to 
soften the stony hearts of sinners; to' entice them and 
call them back from their evil ways. At one time 
He is an affectionate father embracing with open 
arms His prodigal son; 12 at another time He is pic¬ 
tured to us as a tender-hearted mother; 13 again, “as 
the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings,” 14 
so would our heavenly Father gather us, His children, 
under the wings of His mercy. He is the Good Shep¬ 
herd who gives His life for His sheep; He is the 
watchful Shepherd who protects them from all 
harm. 15 

All-sufficient for Himself as He is, yet it would seem 
from His expressions as if His happiness depended 
upon our services. And notwithstanding all this, sin¬ 
ners run on heedlessly and blindly in the broad road 
leading to destruction. Day by day our divine Saviour 
calls on them to delay not their conversion. He speaks 
to them in their troubles and trials: in sickness; in the 
death of some friend or relative; He warns them in the 
sudden taking off of some one whom they knew, and 
their ears are deaf to the words of His voice and their 
eyes closed to the light of His truth: “They have 
mouths and speak not; they have eyes and see not; they 
have ears and hear not.” 16 One speaks to them 

12 Luke xv. 15 John x. 

13 Is. xlix. is. 16 Ps. cxiii. 5, 6. 

14 Matt, xxiii. 37. 


ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


221 


of turning- towards God, and one might as well talk 
to a stone, because they are deaf and blind, and their 
hearts are harder than the very rocks. If they 
promise anything at all, it is that they will turn 
to God at some vague time, or when they are 
incapable of sinning in act, or are satisfied with 
the pleasures of the senses of the world. But Holy 
Scripture says: “Remember thy Creator in the 
days of thy youth, before the time of affliction 
comes, and the years draw nigh of which thou shalt 
say: They please me not.” 17 “My son, from thy 
youth up receive instruction, and even to thy gray hairs 
thou shalt find wisdom.” 18 Words truer than these 
were never uttered by man—they are the words of God 
Himself. 

And yet men say, if not with their lips, at least in 
their hearts: “I have no time now for God: my 
work, my business concerns, my family cares take up 
all my time and attention.” O deplorable blindness! 
When will men have reason and know that the first care, 
in fact, the only care, is that for which they were 
created—namely, the salvation of their souls? Many 
give all their time to everything but to the most im¬ 
portant thing; some heap up riches, and the more they 
have the more they want: others enslave and degrade 
themselves for the fleeting honors of the world and 
the paltry applause of men. It makes little difference 
what it is that puts God out of your mind and soul; 
it may be little or it may be big in the estimation of the 
world, but it effectually does its work. “And they 
violated me among My people,” 1 says the 'prophet 
Ezechiel, speaking the words of God, “for a handful 
of barley, and a piece of bread.” 19 Yes, there are 
some who would sell their souls-for the most flimsy 
gifts of the world or the momentary pleasures of sense. 

17 Ecclus. xii. I. 19 Ezech. xiii. ig. 

18 Ecclus. vi. 18. 






222 


ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


They are truly slaves of the devil, for our Saviour says 
in the most solemn form: “Amen, amen I say unto 
you: that whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of 
sin.” 20 And does it not often happen that riches and 
honors, gathered and toiled for in this way, are scat¬ 
tered to the winds by those who come after and care 
nothing for the man who has heaped them up at the 
price of his eternal salvation? Oh! be wise in time 
and attend to the most important thing—your soul. 
Afterwards you can give your care (and you are bound 
to do so) to that which is secondary—namely, your 
family, your business, and your social life. 

There is no more favorite and subtle temptation of 
the devil than this delaying of one’s conversion ; con¬ 
sequently, it is that to which many persons yield. It 
is so full of ease, so soothing to their conscience to think 
that God is so good that they can keep on in spiritual 
sloth and make their peace with Him sometime before 
they die. A Roman poet has truly and beautifully said : 
“The descent into hell is easy; but to recall your steps, 
and re-ascend to the upper air, this is labor, this is 
work.” The man who said that was Virgil, a pagan 
guided only by the light of reason. And another ex¬ 
pression that has become current is: “Hell is paved 
with good intentions.” Many a man is in hell to-day 
who made all kinds of promises, but never redeemed 
them by good acts. “But to the sinner God hath 
said: Why dost thou declare My justices, and take 
My covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hast hated 
discipline and hast cast My words behind thee.” 21 

Now, what do I mean when I speak of conversion? 
As I have used this word many times in the course of 
this sermon, it is necessary that I give an exact defini¬ 
tion of it. The word itself is almost Latin—from the 
verb convertere —and it means in English to turn 


20 John viii. 34. 


21 Ps. xlix. 16, 17. 



ON DELAY OE REPENTANCE 223 

around to the other side. In its spiritual signification, 
it means a turning from evil to good, from sin to 
righteousness, from the devil to God. It does not 
mean half-way, but a turning the whole way. “When 
thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find Him; 
yet so, if thou seek Him with all thy heart, and all the 
affliction of thy soul.” 22 God is not satisfied with a 
divided allegiance; it must be full loyalty, or nothing at 
all. Our Saviour says: “No man can serve two 
masters. For either he will hate the one and love the 
other; or he will sustain the one, and despise the 
other.” 23 It is impossible to serve God and the world 
at the same time; you cannot have light and darkness 
in the same place at the same time, for it is a con¬ 
tradiction. 

It is, then, an awful risk, the most dangerous thing 
you can possibly think, to put off your conversion to 
another time. In order that you may have some idea 
of the risk, let me ask you to consider the following 
reasons, and to bear them in mind, not only now, but 
during all your life. 

First, if you delay, time for conversion may not be 
given you. We have the solemn warning of our Lord 
to be always ready and prepared to be called before 
Him. “This know ye, that if the householder did 
know at what hour the thief would come, he would 
surely watch, and would not suffer his house to be 
broken open. Be you then also ready; for at what 
hour you think not, the Son of Man will come.” 24 
Yes, He may come at any time He wishes, and call 
upon you to give an account of yourself. He may 
suddenly say to any one of you now listening to me: 
“Give an account of thy stewardship; for now thou 
canst be steward no longer.” 25 What, then, will you 
do ? What, then, will you say ? A sudden and unfore- 

22 Deut. iv. 29. ' 24 Hike xii. 39, 40. 

23 Matt. vi. 24. 25 Luke xvi. 2. 




224 


ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


seen accident may whirl a man out of life and in a 
second put him before the judgment-seat of Christ. 

What if this should happen to you? What if you 
should then be in mortal sin? What if you have been 
delaying and this is the end? 

Men, so fond of themselves in other respects, seem 
to be haters of themselves when it is a matter of their 
soul’s salvation. They put off to a supposed old age 
what should be done in the earlier days of life. They 
make a compact, as it were, with death to come only at 
a time it may please them, whenever that may be. 
But Isaias the prophet says : “The sinner being a hun¬ 
dred years old shall be accursed.” 20 And Jeremias the 
prophet says: “It is good for a man when he hath 
borne the yoke from his youth.” 27 “See you carry 
not,” says St. Bernard, “in a straight and upright body 
a crooked soul.” 28 

O vain and false imaginations! You know you shall 
surely die, but the time of your death is the most un¬ 
certain thing in this uncertain world. How do you 
know you will leave this place alive? How do you 
know you will see to-morrow’s sunlight? As it has 
shone for thousands of years, so it will shine to-mor¬ 
row, please God, but it may shine upon the corpse of 
someone here—who knows ? Who is sure it will not ? 
And yet you say you will return to God at some future 
time! You will be in friendship with Him to-morrow 
—next day—next year! 

The God of infinite love has promised pardon to 
the sorrowful sinner. When He was on earth He for¬ 
gave Mary Magdalen her sins, because she came to Him 
in love and sorrow; He wiped away the terrible sin of 
Peter’s denial; He promised heaven to the penitent 
thief on the cross; yes, and He would have received 

28 Sermon 24. 


26 Is. lxv. 20. 

27 Lam. iii. 27. 





ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


225 


even Judas the traitor with open arms and heart, had 
he begged forgiveness; but He never promised any¬ 
thing to the sinner who trifles with His grace by delay. 
St. Augustine says very fittingly in this matter: “Yes, 
I grant and I know that God has promised you pardon, 
but who has promised the day of to-morrow?” 29 

It is an article of our holy faith that if a man dies 
in the state of mortal sin, being then an enemy of God, 
he will remain an enemy for eternity. There is no 
change, for eternity has no change—no past, no future, 
only an eternal nozw. Any way you look at it, this 
delay leads to final impenitence, and it is generally an 
excuse to heap up sin on sin. Why should a man fear 
a return to God, even if he has many sins, unless he 
wants to add to them? St. Gregory the Great very 
wisely says: “A sin which repentance does not blot 
out by its own weight draws to another sin.” 30 Delay 
shows an obstinate attachment to sin. All are indeed 
liable to sin, but it is the obstinate and stubborn remain¬ 
ing in it that surely deserve hell. “Hast thou of¬ 
fended God and forgettest it?” asks St. John Chry¬ 
sostom. “Behold a second offense and a second en¬ 
mity.” 31 And yet some men for weeks, months, and 
years add sin after sin to their souls. Besides this, 
although good works done in the state of mortal sin 
may indeed dispose the soul to sorrow and return to 
God, they will not gain an eternal reward and are 
lost as far as heaven is concerned. 

After all, the longest life is very short; one hun¬ 
dred years can easily be reckoned in days, hours, and 
minutes. The moment a man begins to live, that 
moment he begins to die. Says the holy man Job: 
“Man born of a woman, living for a short time, is 
filled with many miseries. Who cometh forth like 

29 St. Augustine, Serm. 82, 80 Mor. i. 25, c. 9. 

Ch. 9. 81 Serm. 42, in II Cor. 



226 


ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


a flower, and is destroyed, and fleeth as a shadow, 
and never continueth in the same state.'’ 32 For what 
is your life? St. James says: “It is a vapor which 
appeareth for a little while, and afterwards shall van¬ 
ish away.” 33 

How, then, can you depend upon these uncertain 
things? How leave the greatest interest of all to 
the most uncertain outcome? In the matter of your 
worldly welfare, you are most careful; why not trans¬ 
fer some of that care to your eternal well-being? 
“Say not: I have sinned, and what harm hath be¬ 
fallen me? For the Most High is a patient re¬ 
warder .” 34 For, as St. Augustine beautifully says: 
“It is the just punishment of sin, that each should 
lose what he would not use well; that is, that he who 
knowing what is right does it not should lose the 
knowledge of what is right; and that he who would 
not do well when he could, should lose the power 
when he would.” 35 Do you really believe in the ex¬ 
istence, of a blessed and a miserable eternity? If so, 
why not do everything in your power to avoid the 
latter and gain the former? Observing the conduct 
of many, one would be inclined to believe that they 
have no faith in these important truths. Yet it is 
on the acting out of this faith that they will be saved 
or damned. Take care lest the prophecy of Isaias, as 
quoted by our divine Saviour, be applicable to all 
and each of you who hear me now: “By hearing you 
shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you 
shall see, and shall not perceive. For the heart of 
this people is grown gross, and with their ears they 
have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have 
shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, 
and hear with their ears, and understand with their 
heart, and be converted and I should heal them.” 36 

32 Job. xiv. i, 2. 85 . St. Aug. Lib. Arb. vi. 18. 

83 James iv. 15. 36 Matt. xiii. 14, 15. 

8 ± Ecclus. v. 4. 





ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


227 


Some of you may have said, and even yet think: 
What danger can there be to me? I am strong and 
well, and foresee no accident that can befall me. It 
is absurd to say or think thus in the face of what 
God teaches and experience shows. Neither youth 
nor strength is proof against death, especially sudden 
death. How many persons in the bloom of youth 
and strength are taken away? Can you call to mind 
any whom you knew? Persons die in the midst of 
laughter; in terrible agony; in the wild ravings of 
fever; even in the very act of sin. How many stag¬ 
ger, as it were, drunk into the presence of God! How 
many, foul and filthy, are caught in the very act of 
impurity! Many a time is the priest called upon to 
witness the unforeseen death, and look at the corpse 
of one whom he had often cautioned in health and 
strength. Promises made were never fulfilled but 
put off from day to day. Then, in the last moment, 
lie is sent for hurriedly, only to come and find this 
person either in the 'last agony, unconscious, or per¬ 
haps dead and beyond all help. O beloved brethren! 
the past is gone; you know nothing of the future; 
the present is yours—ah! but for how long? 

Out of Eternity 
The new day is born; 

Into Eternity 
At night will return. 

Carlyle, “To-day.” 

How many thousands are now in hell who never 
dreamed they would be there? But they presumed 
too much, delayed too long, and are damned forever! 
All their promises, all that they might have done and 
did not do, only make their hell more unbearable. 
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things 
a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that 
soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap cor¬ 
ruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the 







228 


ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


spirit shall reap life everlasting.” 37 Listen to what 
the golden-mouthed preacher, the great St. John Chry¬ 
sostom, says on delay of repentance: “Let us not 
therefore sleep, my beloved. For it cannot, it cannot 
be that any one by sloth should attain to the kingdom 
of heaven, nor they that live luxuriously and softly. 
Yea, it is a great thing, if straining ourselves and 
keeping the body under, and enduring innumerable 
labors, we are able to reach these blessings. See ye 
not how vast this distance between heaven and earth? 
And how great a conflict is at hand? And how 
prone a thing to evil man is? And how easily sin 
besets us? And how many snares are in the way? 
Why, then, do we draw upon ourselves so great cares 
over and above those of nature, and give ourselves 
more trouble, and make our burdens greater? Is it 
not enough, our having to care for our food and 
clothing and houses ? Is it not enough to take 
thought for things necessary?” 38 Raise up then, my 
brethren, your hearts to God and say with the pen¬ 
itent David: “Turn away Thy face from my sins, 
and blot out all my iniquities. Create a clean heart 
in me, O God; and renew a right spirit within my 
bowels.” 39 In the second place let us suppose that a 
man’s life is prolonged for years and years into a gray- 
haired old age. Will he then turn to God simply because 
he is old? Many fools think so, as I have already told 
you, but such is not really the case with the vast 
majority of men; for as a man lives, so shall he die. 
If he 'lives deferring his return to God, he will die 
in the same condition. To-morrow lasts for years; it 
is always to-morrow, to-morrow, never to-day, and 
at last to-morrow slips into eternity and all is over. 

But besides time, something else is required, which is 
the most important, and that is God’s grace. Of 

37 Gal. vi. 7, 8. 39 Ps. 1 . n, 12. 

38 Sermon 42, No. 5. 





ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 229 

course, you know that it is an article of our holy faith 
that we cannot do anything of ourselves to save our 
souls. Christ says: “I am the Vine; you are the 
branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the 
same beareth much fruit; for without Me you can do 
nothing.” 40 And St. Paul says: “No man can say, 
the Lord Jesus, but by the Holy Ghost.” 41 Now, will 
God grant you this all-important and most necessary 
grace? Every man gets from God sufficient grace to 
save his soul. If this grace is thrown away, as is so 
frequently done, is God really bound to give a new 
grace? You know well that He does renew it over 
and over again, as often as you are sorry and deter¬ 
mined to lead a better life. Many men trample on 
the grace of God, as one would on a dirty rag, and 
yet, the wonderful mercy of God! He forgives them. 
But it is a different case altogether of which we now 
speak. In the former case the sinner does return, 
but in the one under consideration he cowardly and 
lazily defers. The loving voice of his outraged Sav¬ 
iour calls him; he turns away and heeds not the voice, 
and the last call may have been made; then silence on 
God’s part and final impenitence and damnation for 
the heedless sinner. “Because I called, and you re¬ 
fused; I stretched out My hand, and there was none 
that regarded. You have despised all My counsel, 
and have neglected My reprehensions. I also will 
laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that 
shall come to you which you feared.” 42 Are not 
these words of God, which the wise man Solomon 
uses, calculated to inspire terror into the heart of the 
heedless, delaying sinner? See the strength of them 
—that God will actually laugh at his destruction! 

There is no doubt that every man hopes to be saved; 
no one wants to be damned. But the man who de- 


40 John xv. 5. 

41 1 . Cor. xii. 3. 


42 Prov. i. 24-26. 


230 


ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


lays his return to God is only playing with hope, 
mocking God, and making himself every day less 
worthy of His grace. It is true that God gives His 
grace to the most hardened sinner, but this is looked 
upon as a wonderful miracle—more wonderful than 
the raising of Lazarus, who was four days rotting 
in his grave. But is any one foolish enough to ex¬ 
pect such a miracle in his own case? God generally 
works through the ordinary channels of His grace and 
providence, and the delaying sinner who thinks that 
He will do otherwise in his own special case is the 
greatest fool on earth. Listen to what the great Car¬ 
dinal Newman says about a man of this kind: “By 
how many a Catholic have the very mercies of God 
been perverted to his own ruin! He has rested on the 
Sacraments, without caring to have the proper dis¬ 
positions for attending them. At one time he had 
lived in neglect of religion altogether ; but there was 
a date when he felt a wish to set himself right with 
his Maker; so he began, and has continued ever since, 
to go to confession and Communion at convenient in¬ 
tervals. He comes again and again to the priest; he 
goes through his sins; the priest is obliged to take 
his account of them, which is a very defective account, 
and sees no reason for not giving him absolution. He 
is absolved, as far as words can absolve him; he comes 
again to the priest when the season comes round; 
again he confesses, and again he has the form pro¬ 
nounced over him. He falls sick, he receives the last 
Sacraments; he receives the last rites of the Church, 
and he is lost. He is lost, because he has never really 
turned his heart to God; or, if he had some poor meas¬ 
ure of contrition for awhile, it did not last beyond 
his first or second confession. He soon taught him¬ 
self to come to the Sacraments without any contri¬ 
tion at all; he deceived himself, and left out his prin¬ 
cipal aud most important sins. Somehow he de- 




ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


231 


ceived himself into the notion that they were not sins, 
or not mortal sins, for some reason or other he was 
silent, and his confession became as defective as his 
contrition. Yet this scanty show of religion was suf¬ 
ficient to soothe and stupefy his conscience; so he 
went on year after year, never making a good con¬ 
fession, communicating in mortal sin, till he fell ill; 
and then, I say, the Viaticum and holy oil were brought 
to him, and he committed sacrilege for his last time— 
and so he went to his God.'’ 43 Does this graphic de¬ 
scription by the Cardinal fit any one here? You can 
see that he speaks, not so much of the man who keeps 
away altogether from the Sacraments, as of the one 
who does worse—delays his conversion, and uses the 
Sacraments as the means of soothing his conscience 
and paving the way to hell. And yet men will de¬ 
pend upon a miracle! 

You all know of the famous case of St. Paul’s con¬ 
version; how he was struck blind on the way to Da¬ 
mascus to persecute and imprison the Christians; how 
he heard the voice of Christ saying: “Saul, Saul, 
why persecutest thou Me?” And he, trembling and 
astonished, said: “Lord, what wilt Thou have me 
to do ?” 44 Yes, he was converted; he did what the 
Lord told him to do and he became the great Apostle 
of the Gentiles. In like manner was a miracle worked 
in favor of the renowned Doctor of the Church, St. 
Augustine. He had strayed away for years, living 
in sin, in infidelity, falling from depth to depth, until 
he had reached the bottom; his conscience was a hell 
to him; he was made the plaything of his own pas¬ 
sions, and was sunk down into almost total despair. 
One day, when he was, as it were, beyond all hope 
and had cast himself down on ihe ground, he “sent 
up these sorrowful words: 'How long? how long? 

43 “Discourses to Mixed Con- 44 Acts ix. 4, 6. 
gregations,” page 37. 






232 


ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


to-morrow, and to-morrow? Why not now? Why 
not is there this hour an end to my uncleanness?’ So 
was I speaking, and weeping in the most bitter con¬ 
trition of my heart, when, lo! I heard from a neigh¬ 
boring house a voice, as of a boy or girl, I know not, 
chanting and oft repeating, ‘Take up and read; take 
up and reach’ ” 45 And these are the words from St. 
Paul that converted his great and loving soul to God: 
“Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting 
and drunkenness; not in chambering and impurities; 
not in contention and envy; but put ye on the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in 


its concupiscences. 


ffi 




This is the very exact ac¬ 


count St. Augustine gives of his own conversion. The 
words of St. Paul rang in his ears and sank into his 
heart; he never went back to his old ways of sin. As 
St. Paul is the great Apostle of the Gentiles, so St. 
Augustine is the great Doctor of the Church. Stop 
now for a moment. Suppose that these two men had 
rejected the grace of God. What might have hap¬ 
pened? The same as, no doubt, has happened in 
many another case—they might have been damned. 
Christ in the garden of Gethsemani called Judas, even 
with the kiss of the traitor on his lips; Judas rejected 
the call and you know what happened. You have the 
great example of a death-bed repentance in the peni¬ 
tent thief on the cross, to show the extent of God’s 
mercy and the power of His grace and at the same 
time to warn delaying sinners. 

Will God, do you think, give you this grace? Will 
He call you to Him, in the same manner He did St. 
Paul, St. Augustine, and the penitent thief? Surely 
you are not so foolish as to imagine such a thing. If 
you squander the riches of His grace now, you will 
die paupers and be buried in the spiritual pauper’s 


grave- 


-hell. 


He calls you every day in one way or 


45 Conf. Book VIII. i2. 


46 Rom. xiii. 13, 14. 












ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


233 


another, whether by outward things, or by the inward 
voice of your conscience; if these things wil f l not 
change you, then neither will a miracle of God. For 
how could a miracle be of any use to such a person? 
The miracles of our Lord were denied in His own 
time; it was even said that He did them by the power 
of the devil. Miracles are denied at the present day. 
The delaying sinner would shut his eyes to a miracle 
to keep on in his way of life. He is a cheat and he 
tries to cheat God, but the Eternal Wisdom cannot be 
cheated. Heaven cannot be gained by a trick; the 
would-be wise ones of this world will find themselves 
very foolish in the world to come. Those who make 
compacts here with their stupefied consciences, or im¬ 
agine they can gain heaven while doing evil on earth, 
will find themselves in a terrible situation in the life 
to come. Are there any here to whom these words of 
Isaias the prophet can be truly addressed? “You 
have said: We have entered into a league with death, 
and we have made a covenant with he'll. When the 
overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not 
come upon us; for we have placed our hope in lies, 
and by falsehood we are protected.” 47 The insult 
offered to God by this kind of talk, or even by a 
thought like it, is so horrible that it calls for an extraor¬ 
dinary punishment and vengeance of a merciful God 
upon the one giving it. “They have sinned against 
Him, and are none of His children in their filth; they 
are a wicked and perverse generation. Is this the re¬ 
turn thou makest to the Lord, O foolish and senseless 
people? Is not He thy Father, that hath possessed 
thee, and made thee, and created thee ?” 48 

To turn to God, now, at this mission, may appear 
hard and difficult; will it be any easier a year from 
now, if you will be then alive? Oh, no!—the chain 
will be stronger, to-morrow will be as far off as ever, 

48 Deut. xxxii. 5, 6. 


47 Is. xxviii. 15. 



234 


ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


and the devil will rejoice more than he does now, un¬ 
less you now stop sinning. Passions can never be 
overcome nor habits broken by yielding to them; you 
must—you must overcome them, and you can and 
will by God’s grace. By constantly deferring, you 
are constantly increasing the number of your sins, 
making your mind still darker, rendering your habits 
of evil still stronger, until you are bound hand and 
foot, a slave to the devil. Do you want this to 
happen? Certainly not, you say. Well, then, go to 
confession and prepare yourselves for holy Com¬ 
munion. 

Now I will go as far as to suppose that the delay¬ 
ing sinner has the time, and that God offers him the 
grace—will he even then at the last moment profit by 
it? Oh, no! it by no means follows, even though the 
sinner knows he is dying; for although God’s grace 
is all-powerful, yet it is powerless if man will not co¬ 
operate with it. Man is a reasonable creature raised 
above the brute by reason and free-will. Almighty 
God endowed him with these noble faculties, so that 
he could merit heaven by choosing the right and re¬ 
jecting the wrong. He who gave him these wonder¬ 
ful gifts will not force him to do anything against 
his will, for as St. Augustine very beautifully says: 
“He who made thee without thy co-operation does not 
save thee without thy co-operation.” 49 So that it is 
absolutely necessary that you give up your will to the 
action of God’s grace working in you. How, I ask 
you, can the man whose will under ordinary circum¬ 
stances is debased by a constant tendency to sin, give 
that will to God in the last moment? 

“Just as the twig is bent the tree’s inclined.” 50 So 
the will, being constantly inclined towards evil and 
sin, cannot, or at least will not, suddenly be turned to¬ 
wards God and heaven. Suppose a man is dying 

49 Ser. 169, Ch. 11. 


50 Pope, “Moral Essays.” 



ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


235 


who has led a bad and immoral life; he laughed off 
all warnings, and stifled the voice of conscience, and 
now the priest is beside him. His mind is full of the 
specters of sin, and his body may be racked by pain. 
What kind of a confession can he possibly make? 
How receive his Lord worthily, with sorrow and 
love, in the Holy Eucharist? He has delayed, de¬ 
layed, delayed—and now it is really the end. Yes, it 
can be done; but the point is, will it be done? Re¬ 
member the habit; the constant delay. Habit is, as 
it were a second nature . 51 And then think of “how 
use doth breed a habit in a man!” 52 And now there 
is only a short time before eternity! How can this 
man really repair all the harm he has done? Has 
he been a thief, a robber, a drunkard, a scandal-giver, 
an impure man, a gambler, an oppressor of the poor, 
a haughty and proud man ? How repair in a few min¬ 
utes any or all of these sins, continued through so 
many years? I do not know, I cannot judge; maybe 
the man makes no reparation and goes to hell. St. 
Paul can say to him, as he said years ago : “Accord¬ 
ing to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou 
treasurest up to thyself wrath, against the day of 
wrath, and revelation of the just judgment of God, 
who will render to every man according to his 
works.” 53 We will take another step. Suppose that, 
after all, he does not die; he recovers; his strength 
and health come back. Watch now, wait and see what 
kind of a life he will lead after the lesson he has had. 
I do not say that all will go back to the same old life, 
but I can certainly assure you that some, yea, a great 
number, of habitually delaying sinners do so. The 
Book of Proverbs says: “As a dog that returneth to 
his vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly.” 54 
And St. Peter says: “It had been better for them 

51 Cicero. 58 Rom. ii. 5, 6. 

52 Shakespeare. 54 Prov. xxvi. 11. 


ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


236 


not to have known the way of justice, than after they 
have known it, to turn back from that holy command¬ 
ment which was delivered to them.” 55 What are you 
to think of the delaying sinner who promises all on his 
death-bed? Do you doubt that it is a very risky 
thing? Are you sure you will not be lost if you wait 
for this risk? What if that man of whom I spoke 
had gone before his Judge? 

Listen to what the gentle and holy Father Faber has 
to say on this very subject: “A seared conscience! 
This is a fearful possibility; and yet to use the 
Apostle’s expression ‘The Spirit manifestly saith’ 50 
that there is such a thing. It is, according to St. Paul, 
one of the marks of heresy. It belongs also peculiarly 
to worldliness. To have gone on for such a length 
of time doing wrong that we have at last ceased to ad¬ 
vert to its being wrong; to sin, and for the monitor 
within to be silent; to forget God, and not to remem¬ 
ber that we are forgetting Him—all this is surely far 
worse than to be a savage or an idolater. But this is 
to have a seared conscience. This is the tendency of 
worldliness—a tendency which it can develop with in¬ 
comparable swiftness. And then where is the power 
of coming right again? We have drifted away from 
all the sweet facilities of repentance. We have hard¬ 
ened ourselves against the ordinary impetus of grace. 
We have made ourselves so unlovely that grace would 
shun us if it could. We have sold ourselves to the 
devil, and he has got us safe before the proper time. 
With most men it is enough to say that if they erred, 
at least they had a good conscience about it, or that 
their conscience told them it was wrong, and they are 
sorry they gave way. But if we have a seared con¬ 
science, neither of these things avails. We have for¬ 
gotten and pretermitted God! We did so continu¬ 
ously at first; but now our habitual contempt has super- 










55II. Pet. ii. 21. 


56 I. Tim. iv. 







ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 237 

induced oblivion; it seems as if He were going to re¬ 
taliate, to pay us back in our own coin and, for the 
present at least, to pretermit us. We no 'longer know 
when we are in danger. We have lost our chart. 
We can tell nothing of our latitude and longitude. 
No land is in sight; nothing but a waste of boundless 
waters. The sun is hidden and we can take no ob¬ 
servations and have taken none for ever so 'long a 
time. The night is so grim and murky that not a 
star will give us an indistinct notion where we are; 
and the needle is snapped, and we know neither north 
nor south, nor east nor west. What are our chances 
of safety now? There has come upon us the fatal 
woe of Isaias: ‘Woe to you that call evil good, and 
good evil, that put darkness for light, and light for 
darkness, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bit¬ 
ter.’ (Is. v. 20.)” 57 

If therefore there should be any one here listening 
to me whose conscience reproaches him for his neglect 
of having delayed his turning to God, let me implore 
him for the love of our dear, crucified Master Jesus 
to neglect no longer. No matter how terrible the sin¬ 
ner and his sins may be; no matter how long he may 
have delayed; the Master is very merciful, oh! in¬ 
finitely merciful. He promises you through His 
prophet Isaias: “If your sins be as scarlet they shall 
be made white as snow; and if they be red as crimson, 
they shall be made white as wool.” 58 

Beg God, then, in earnest prayer to make a good con¬ 
fession and a worthy holy Communion. “And when 
thou shalt seek there the Lord thy God, thou shalt 
find Him; yet so, if thou seek Him with all thy heart, 
and all the affliction of thy soul.” 59 

Let me conclude in the words of the greatest orator 
that ever stood in a Christian pulpit, St. John Chrysos- 

1 57 “The Creator and the 58 Is. i. 18. 

Creature, 1 ” pages 364-366. 59 Deut. iv. 29. 





238 


ON DELAY OF REPENTANCE 


tom. “Wherefore I entreat and beseech, and lay hold 
of your very knees, that whilst we have this scant 
viaticum of life, you would be pricked in your heart 
by what has been said, that you would be converted, 
that you would become better men; that we may not, 
like that rich man [Dives] lament to no purpose in that 
world, after our departure, and continue thenceforth in 
incurable wailings. For though thou shouldest have 
father, or son, or friend, or any soever who hath con¬ 
fidence towards God, none of these shall ever deliver 
thee, thine own works having destroyed thee. For 
such is that tribunal; it judges by our actions alone, 
and in no other way is it possible there to be saved. 
And these things I say, not to grieve you, not to throw 
you into despair, but for fear of our finding vain and 
cold hopes to nourish us, and placing confidence in this 
person, or that, and so neglecting our own proper 
goodness. For if we be slothful, there will be neither 
righteous man, nor prophet, nor apostle, nor any one, 
to stand by us; but if we have been earnest, having in 
sufficiency the plea which comes from each man’s own 
works, we shall with freedom of heart partake of the 
good things also laid up for them that love God; to 
which may we all attain, through the grace and mercy 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom and the Father 
with the Holy Ghost be glory, power, and honor, now 
and forever, and world without end.” 60 Amen. 


co St. John Chrysostom, Sermon 42, No. 5. 


ON PERSEVERANCE 


‘‘Look to yourselves, that you may lose not the 
things which you have wrought: but that you may 
receive a full reward.” (II. John i. 8 .) 

SYNOPSIS 

The final exhortation-Perseverance.—The important things 
already spoken of.—Give up all sin.—The trouble of attending 
the exercises.—You have listened patiently.—The intention in 
the sermons.—Confession and holy Communion.—What will you 
do after the mission?—What is perseverance?—The responsi¬ 
bility of the mission.—God is calling.—The world is calling, God 
is waiting !—Everything is passing away.—Heaven alone is true. 
—Wishing will not gain heaven, actions necessary.—What are 
you to do practically?—Perseverance is God’s greatest gift.—We 
must do our part.—Pride, source of sin.—Humility of sanctity.— 
How and when to pray.—Be sincere.—At Mass.—Daily Mass.— 
Mortal sin of missing Mass.—Visit Jesus in the Eucharist.— 
Parents, children, and the home.—Catholic schools.—The family 
at the Sacraments.—Do not get desperate if you again fail.—Daily 
Communion.—Monthly Communion.—Occasions of sin.—God’s 
claim over you.—Temptations are not sins.—God will not allow 
you to be overtaxed.—Final appeal to all.—Look before and 
not behind.—The last request. 

We have come at length to the closing sermon of our 
mission, and it is fitting that we now address to you 
the final exhortation on what is to be expected from 
those who were benefited by it, namely perseverance. 

During the course of the mission we have spoken 
to you upon the most important and momentous things 
in the world, the things which concern your happiness 
in this world and your eternal salvation in the next. 
We have tried, with all the ability of which we are 
capable, gently and kindly, yet none the less forcibly, 
to impress upon your minds the all-important fact that 
you are in this world to serve God and by that service 

239 


240 


ON PERSEVERANCE 


to be ultimately saved. It is, therefore, our earnest 
hope and dearest wish that you have profited unto 
your eternal salvation by what has been preached to 
you, for as St. Paul says: “We must all be manifested 
before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one 
may receive the proper things of the body, according 
as he hath done, whether it be good or evil. Knowing 
then the fear of the Lord, we use persuasion to men; 
but to God we are manifest.” 1 

And so we have tried to persuade you during the 
mission to give up all sin, to lead a better life, to look 
to the things that are unseen by the eyes of the body, 
but are well known and seen by the eyes of the soul, 
lighted by the lamp of faith. Again using the words 
of St. Paul, the great apostolic missioner: “I beseech 
you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you 
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing 
unto God, your reasonable service. And be not con¬ 
formed to this world; but be reformed in the newness 
of your mind, that you may prove what is the 
good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of 
God.” 2 

You have attended this mission with no doubt a 
great many inconveniences; you have patiently listened 
to our exhortations, given to you, God knows, with 
only one end in view, namely, your betterment here and 
eternal happiness hereafter. We have tried, as God 
gave us the power, to put more fervor into the luke¬ 
warm, to stir up the lazy and slothful, to bring back to 
life those who were spiritually dead in mortal sin, to 
instruct those who were ignorant of the great truths 
of religion and of the Commandments of God; finally, 
we have done our best to make those who were already 
good and in God’s friendship better, and more friendly 
to Him, and more fervent in His service. 

You all—the lukewarm, the slothful, and spiritually 

1 II. Cor. v. io, ii. 2 Rom. xii. i, 2. 




ON PERSEVERANCE 


24I 


lazy, the bad and the good and the fervent—have, I 
trust been benefited and bettered by the mission. You 
have confessed your sins; you have asked God to par¬ 
don you, and you know He has done so. He has given 
you Himself in the Holy Eucharist to strengthen 
you and be a pledge and foretaste of eternal life. 
Now, then, what remains? How are you to preserve 
the fruits of the mission? Will your fervor evapo¬ 
rate? Will all your good resolutions tumble down at 
the first wind of temptation, like a badly-built wall 
or a house made of cards? Let us hope not. You 
have built the wall against the attacks of the devil; 
you have erected the house in which you are to dwell 
for the future strong and firm, but you must keep the 
wall in repair, the house in order. Christ says: 
“When a strong man armed keepeth his court, those 
things are in peace which he possesseth. But if a 
stronger than he come upon him, and overcome him; 
he will take away all his armor wherein he trusted, and 
will distribute his spoils. He that is not with Me, is 
against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me, scat- 
teretli.” 3 And so will it be with you, each and every 
one of you, if you do not persevere. “Hold fast that 
which thou hast, that no man take thy crown,” 4 says 
St. John. What is it to persevere? What do we 
mean by preseverance? We mean, to be constant in 
our resolutions, to hold out, to be fixed, steadfast, and 
immovable in the good plans we have taken for the 
future. St. Paul says: “Therefore, my beloved 
brethren, be ye steadfast and unmoveable; always 
abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your 
labor is not in vain in the Lord .’’ 5 

The more God gives you, the greater is your res¬ 
ponsibility. He has given you this mission, and for 
some it may be the last. During it He has called you 

3 Luke ix. 21-23. *8$ ' Ax * JO D 'Is 

4 Apoc. iii. 11. 



242 


ON PERSEVERANCE 


in no uncertain voice; let each one ask himself: 
What is it God has called upon me to do? Each one 
of you has a conscience, and the voice of that 
conscience is the voice of God. Answer Him; He 
calls you. What is He asking you to do? 

First, He is asking, nay, imploring you to persevere. 
You have entered the right path; your faces are turned 
towards home—heaven. Will you keep on that road, 
or will you turn aside ? The world is calling, calling, 
calling; God is waiting, waiting, waiting for you to 
come home. Will you abandon your home, your real, 
eternal home, for the temporal, half-way house of 
this world? “For we have not here a lasting city, 
but we seek one that is to come,” 6 says St. P'aul. 

Everything will pass away; we shall pass away, too. 
Nothing on earth is lasting; the moment we begin to 
live, that moment we begin to die. 

This world is all a fleeting show, 

For man’s illusion given; 

The smiles of joy, the tears of woe, 

Deceitful shine, deceitful flow,— 

There’s nothing true but heaven. 

Moore. 

Our divine Saviour implies that it is not sufficient to 
have the empty, dreamy wish to persevere and get to 
heaven, but that we must work for it. “Not every 
one that saith to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the 
kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of My 
Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the 
kingdom of heaven.” 7 It is vain to run the race if 
we do not win the prize; “So run that you may I 
obtain.” s j 

Hear what St. Augustine says on this very matter 
of perseverance, for he himself was a great example 
of it. “There remains still the question, which I now 

6 Heb. xiii. 14. 8 I. Cor. ix. 24. 

7 Matt. vii. 21. 













ON PERSEVERANCE 


243 


think may meanwhile thus be solved. There is a 
voice of some kind—there is, a certain kind of voice 
of the Shepherd, in respect of which the sheep hear 
not strangers, and in respect of which those who are 
not sheep do not hear Christ. What a word is this! 
‘He that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be 
saved.’ 0 No one of his own wish is indifferent to such 
a voice; a stranger does not hear it: for this reason, 
also, does He announce it to the former that he may 
abide perseveringly with Himself to the end; but by one 
who is wanting in such persevering continuance with 
Him, such a word remains unheard. One who has 
come to Christ, and has heard word after word of one 
kind and another, all of them true, all of them salutary; 
and among all the rest is also this utterance, ‘He that 
shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved.’ He 
who has heard this is one of the sheep. But there was, 
perhaps, some one listening to it, who treated it with 
dislike, with coldness and heard it as that of a stranger. 

. . . For it is easy to hear Christ, easy to praise the 
Gospel, easy to applaud the preacher: but to endure 
unto the end, is peculiar to the sheep who hear the 
Shepherd’s voice. And what is that end to which thou 
shalt endure ? Even till thou readiest the end of 
thy pathway.” 10 

No, it is not by wishing, but by doing, that you will 
gain heaven; it is not by praising the Gospel, or 
applauding the sermon, that you will be saved, but by 
acting out the Gospel and the sermon. 

What, then, are you practically to do, so as not 
to lose the benefit of the mission and have all your 
promises vanish and your work go for nothing? 
First and foremost, have courage and fight manfully. 
The devil is powerful, but God is more powerful: 
“If God be for us, who is against us? 11 

9 Matt. x. 22. on St. John’s Gospel. 

10 St. Aug. Tract 45, No. 13, 11 Rom. viii. 31. 





244 


ON PERSEVERANCE 


No gift of God is more preciouis than that of 
perseverance, for if we persevere we shall be saved; 
if we do not, we shall be lost. But God has promised 
salvation to all who obey Him, and if we do what lies 
in our powder, aided by His grace, then we should have 
the greatest confidence and courage. “Be you humbled 
therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may 
exalt you in the time of visitation: Casting all your 
care upon Him, for He hath care of you. Be sober 
and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roar¬ 
ing lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. 
Whom resist ye, strong in faith: knowing that the 
same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the 
world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us 
unto His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have 
suffered a little, will Himself perfect you and confirm 
you, and establish you.” 12 

The cause of all sin is pride: the foundation of all 
sanctity is humility. No wonder that St. Paul says: 
“He that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed 
lest he fall. Let no temptation take hold on you, but 
such as is human. And God is faithful, who will not 
suffer you to he tempted above that which you are 
able: but will make also with temptation issue, that 
you may be able to' bear it.” 13 

And so it is necessary to pray, for if you do not 
pray you will not persevere. That is as sure as that! 
God exists. He Himself has given you the example, 
and frequently has exhorted all to pray. His Apostles. 
following their Masters example and command, have, 
insisted on the necessity of prayer for salvation. Bui 
how are you to pray, and when ? Sincerely, fervently J 
and always. The man who waits to get on his knees 1 
to pray prays but seldom. Be sincere, open, anepj 
honest in your prayers: be fervent and attentive, anc 
be constant in your prayers. Whatever you do, do i 

12 1 . Pet. v. 6, io. 


13 I. Cor. x. 12, 13. 


• Oi 
!■( 






ON PERSEVERANCE 


245 

for God, for to work is to pray when the work is 
offered to God. It is not what you do but how you 
c o it, that has any weight with God. No matter what 
t le thing is when it is done for God, it becomes a 

prayer. Therefore, any man can lead a life of con¬ 
tinuous prayer. 

Pray especially in the morning and the evening: 
never begin the day without offering it to God, nor 
end it without asking His pardon for any faults or 
sms committed during it. 

i he prayerful man is the victorious man, for with¬ 
out prayer he will be easily overcome. The brutes do 
lot pi ay. hence, man may be defined not only as an 
intelligent animal, but also as a prayerful one. 
r Make short ejaculatory prayers from time to time; 
tor instance, at the striking of a clock, when passing a 
:hurch, or whenever the thought comes to your mind, 
°r God the Holy Ghost is continually urging you. 

Pray at Mass; do not gape around you when you 
ome to the most holy Sacrifice, but say your rosary, 
)r r ead your prayer-book, and follow the priest 
hrough the wonderful Action. If possible, go to 

\fass every morning, or as many times during the 
veek as you can. 

Above all, I warn you that if you will not keep up 
'our attendance at Mass on Sundays and holy-days of 
>bligation, when you can do so, you will commit a 
nortal sin for every omission, and for every person 
incler your care whom you keep from fulfilling the 
obligation. It is a short step from the deliberate miss- 
tig of Mass to total depravity and final impenitence, 
luring the day, as time and opportunity permit, if 
ou cannot come to Mass, make a visit to Jesus in’the 
I fiessecl Sacrament, and tell Him your trials, and 
orrows, and troubles: it is better to do that than lie 
fretting over them, and telling them to your neigh- 
ors. He is the best Friend and the nearest neighbor 










246 


ON PERSEVERANCE 


you have, and He is the only one who can really help 
you. 

See that your children, no matter of what age, obey 
you, and give them good example; and let all the chil¬ 
dren, young and old, obey their parents. The home 
is the school of the world, no other school can take its 
place; but if the teacher will not teach, and the scholars 
will not learn, trouble, ignorance, and disorder will be 
the result. The father is the head of this school, and 
God will demand from him an accounting, which he 
cannot transfer to his wife; father and mother are 
joint teachers, but the father is the head-master. Send 
your children to a Catholic school, where the names 
of Jesus and Mary are not excluded or may be laughed 
at. You are gravely responsible in this most impor¬ 
tant matter, and God will hold you responsible, and 
accountable for every child. 

See that your family attend to the Sacraments, and! 
attend to them yourself. Good example on your part 
will effect more than all your scolding, and all your 
appeals and exhortations: example speaks louder than 
words. 

No matter what you may do; no matter how often 
you may relapse after the mission, I beg of you for 
the love of God, not to get disheartened and give up 
all effort in despair, but as soon as possible, go again 
to confession and holy Communion. Our Saviour does 
not say you can go only once to confession; He will 
forgive you every time you are sorry and make an 
earnest effort to come back. He invites you to come 
often to holy Communion. How often should you 
go to holy Communion? You say every day: “Give 
us this day our daily bread;” that means the Holy 
'Eucharist. Therefore, if you can, put into practise 
that petition, and daily receive the Holy Eucharist. 
If you cannot go daily, then go occasionally during the 
week. If that should also be impossible, then go every 




ON PERSEVERANCE 247 

Sunday and holy-day. Let no one in any family be 
absent over a month from holy Communion. 

If you do what I now tell you, you will not wander 
far from God, but if you get careless, and allow your 
holy Communions to pass, it will be only a matter of a 
short time when you will be back in the same old rut 
of sin and of damnation. Do not let anything short 
of the most serious difficulties keep you from holy 
Communion, and should you miss one week, make it up 
in the next. 

Keep away from bad company; avoid the occasions 
of sin, for “he that loveth the danger shall perish in 
it.” 14 No matter how dear anything or any person 
may be to you, if th^ clash with the claims of God 
upon you, you must give them up. God is first, and 
will yield to nobody. There is no dispensation from 
His law, nor are there any privileged persons; all, all 
must obey or take the consequences. Beware of human 
respect; that is, do not let the sneer, or the laugh, or 
the frown, or the bribery of the world affect you. It 
sneered, it laughed at, it frowned upon Christ; but 
He overcame it, and you will too with His help. 

You will have temptations; who is there without 
them? Temptation is a trial, it is to see of what we 
are made. As gold is refined by fire, so is the soul 
by temptation. Why should there be a reward if there 
be no trial of worth? But remember, temptations are 
not sins: in fact, you can make them means of grace. 
To yield to temptation is sinful; you will always know 
when you are doing that. In your temptations pray 
to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph; call your angel guardian 
and your patron saints to your aid, and you need not 
fear. You can be sure of one thing—that God will 
not allow you to be overburdened nor overtaxed with 
temptation, for He loves you too much for that. 

In conclusion, let me recall to your minds what we 

14 Ecclus. iii. 27. 



248 


ON PERSEVERANCE 


said in the exhortations at the Masses on the first day 
of the mission. We said that the mission was for all: 
to make the good better and more fervent; to rouse up 
the lukewarm, the idle, and the slothful in God’s 
service to an appreciation of the dangerous condition 
in which they were; and finally, to bring you back to 
life, even as Christ brought back the ruler’s daughter, 
the widow’s son, and the decaying Lazarus. 

Have we done so? Let 11s hope in God we have. 
And now to all, but especially to those who were dead 
in mortal sin, and are now living again by a greater 
miracle than the three I have mentioned, we make this 
appeal in the words of the great St. John Chrysostom. 
He is speaking to his people on the words of St. Paul: 
“When you were the servants of sin, you were free men 
to justice,” 13 and the echoes of his golden voice ring 
down the ages like sweet-toned bells. 

“When you lived in wickedness, and impiety, and 
the w'orst of evil,” he says, “the state of compliance 
you lived in was such that you did absolutely no good 
thing at all. For this “you were free men to justice.” 
That is, you were not subject to it, but estranged from 
it wholly. For you did not even so much as divide 
the manner of servitude between righteousness and sin, 
but gave yourselves wholly up to wickedness. Now, 
therefore, since you have come over to righteousness, 
give yourselves wholly up to virtue, doing nothing at 
all of vice, that the measure you may give may be at 
least equal.” 16 

Give up the past, we finally exhort you. Be always 
sorry, but do not be worried; look before you and 
not behind you, for no man ever won a race by looking 
behind. Keep your eyes on the goal and press for¬ 
ward. Remember the advice of St. Paul: “Brethren, 
I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one 

15 Rom. vi. 20. 16 Sermon 42, Verse 20, Ro¬ 

mans. 


ON PERSEVERANCE 


249 


thing I do: forgetting the things that are behind, and 
stretching forth myself to those that are before, I press 
towards the mark, to the prize of the supernal voca¬ 
tion of God on Christ Jesus.” 17 

As a last request, I beg of you to pray for me as 
well as for my brother missioners, that “I may chastise 
my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, 
when I have preached to others, I myself should be¬ 
come a castaway.” 18 

And now, good-bye, God bless you. You and I 
may never meet again on earth, but let us hope we 
shall all meet in heaven. “The peace of God, which 
surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and 
your minds in Christ Jesus.” 19 Amen. 

17 Phil. iii. 13, 14. 19 Phil. iv. 7. 

18 I. Cor. ix. 27. 



ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GOD 


“Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of Me, be¬ 
cause I am meek, and humble of heart: and you shall 
find rest to your souls. For My yoke is sweet and My 
burden light.” (Matt. xi. 29, 30.) 


OPENING INSTRUCTION 

SYNOPSIS 

The Decalogue is Christ’s precept of charity amplified.—The 
Decalogue written on man’s heart.—The Decalogue is attacked 
and denied.—It makes for the happiness of man.—In its present 
form given by God to Moses.—It is a perfect code that could not 
have been made by man.—Summary of the First Commandment. 
—Of the Second Commandment.—Of the Third.—Of the Fourth 
Commandment.—The Fifth Commandment guards life.—The 
Sixth and Ninth Commandments guard honor.—The Seventh and 
Tenth Commandments guard property.—The Eighth Command¬ 
ment guards character.—The Decalogue is the charter of liberty. 

The Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, is only the 
application of the great precept of the love of God 
and of the neighbor given to all men by our divine 
Lord. 

Some of its precepts are positive—that is, they com¬ 
mand us to do something; others are negative, forbid¬ 
ding us to do something. 

The positive precepts are streams bringing the 
water of God’s grace to the dry soil of the souls of 
men; the negative precepts are as the banks which 
protect these streams, and prevent them from being 
muddied by the dirty soil of the passions of men. 

In one way or another, the Ten Commandments are 

now, and have been from the beginning, written in 

250 





ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GOD 251 

the hearts of all men who have the use of reason. 
Man is a reasoning- animal, and has a conscience, 
which other animals have not. They have no idea of 
God, no moral fear or shame, because they have no 
conscience ; they are not bound by moral law. Con¬ 
science in man is the voice of God saying: Thou 
shalt; Thou shalt not; and of all the animal kingdom 
man alone has this secret, inner monitor. 

The worldling, the badly-instructed Catholic, the 
scoffer of religion, all who wish to give freedom to 
their passions, may either deny the Decalogue alto¬ 
gether, may whittle away as much as they can of 
its force, or may say that its precepts are too hard 
for human nature, but it is there through all the 
tides of time, and all the powers of hell and all the 
machinery of the world cannot move it one inch out 
of its place. 

Though it is attacked, and it especially is in these 
days, the beautiful law of God is the happiness and 
glory of humanity. It is the protection of individ¬ 
uals, even of those who flout it and deny its binding 
force, as well as of society in general, and of govern¬ 
ments which act as if no such law existed. 

The Decalogue is the law of the Supreme Legislator, 
the Master of the world, the Creator and judge of all 
men. It was given in its present form to Moses, as is 
related in the twentieth chapter of the Book of Exodus, 
and is divided into two parts. The first three com¬ 
mandments contain our duties to God; the other seven, 
our duties to our neighbor. A short, complete, and 
perfect code that could never have been made by the 
mind of the most subtle philosopher, or the most 
learned legislator; for on it are based all laws of na¬ 
tions as well as all actions of individuals. 

The “First Commandment” requires us to love God 
and nothing else except through and by Him; it pre¬ 
serves us from the misfortune of those who place 


252 ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GOD 

their whole soul in the perishing things of this world; 
and also from offering, as heathens did and do, our su¬ 
preme adoration to anything less than the infinite God. 

The “Second Commandment’ 1 forbids us to blas¬ 
pheme His holy Name and preserves us from contempt 
of the Divine Majesty by the frivolous use of his 
Name, for we cease to love when we no longer respect. 

The “Third Commandment” prescribes the worship 
of God, especially public worship, or religion. 
‘‘Religion,” says St. ‘Alphonsus Liguori, “is a moral 
virtue by which men Fender to God due worship 
and honor as the Creator of all things and the 
Supreme Lord.” 1 This Commandment keeps us from 
shameful and senseless superstitions which in all times 
have degraded men and dishonored God. It provides 
for days of rest for the body, and of public, united, 
and social worship of God for the soul. 

The “Fourth Commandment” begins at the foun¬ 
dation of social life—obedience. The Christian obeys 
not man but God. For the most part God acts through 
secondary causes, and human superiors are God’s 
agents. The foundation of society is the family, and 
the father and mother are the joint heads. The end 
of obedience in the family is to keep peace. If all in 
the family are bound to obey the heads of the family, 
the heads themselves are bound to respect themselves 
as well as those under them. As are the families, so 
is the State. 

The “Fifth Commandment” guards the life of the 
soul, and also the body against scandal, revenge, hatred, 
and murder. The whole human race is one large fam¬ 
ily. God is the Father of all, and He wants His chil¬ 
dren to have love and charity one for another. The 
scandal-giver is no less a murderer than the taker of 
human life. 

The “Sixth and Ninth Commandments” guard the 

1 Tract. 4, No. 14. 



ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GOD 253 

honor of families. Honor is the clearest possession 
after life itself. Take away honor, and life is hardly 
worth living. The greatest honor a man or woman has 
is purity of soul and body. The end of these Com¬ 
mandments is to preserve this purity. It is to unite the 
home by the sweetest, holiest, and purest affections; 
it is to prevent love from degrading itself to the level 
of the brute. 

The “Seventh and Tenth Commandments’’ secure 
property against robbery and injustice. After the boon 
of life and the gift of purity, comes the rightful owner¬ 
ship of the world’s goods. This is secured in fact, 
and even from being the object of the desire of the 
covetous; it protects the weak against the strong, and 
helps society against social disturbances and unjust rev¬ 
olutions. 

The “Eighth Commandment’’ protects our character. 
It forbids false testimony, detraction, calumny, lies; 
it keeps good faith, confidence, and loyalty among 
men; it puts a mark upon the impostor, the hypo¬ 
crite, and the double-tongued. 

The Decalogue covers the whole religious and 
social life of man; it is the great charter of our 
liberty and the great gift of God to man. 


THE FIRST COMMANDMENT 


“I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the 
land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou 
shalt not have strange gods before Me. Thou shaft not 
make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any¬ 
thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, 
nor of those things that are in the waters under the 
earth. Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them.” 
(Exodus xx. 2-5.) 

SYNOPSIS 

Adoration of God.—The highest act of the creature.—What God 
does for man.—To love God.—Faith, hope and charity.—The 
virtue of religion.—Devotion.—Prayer.—Adoration.—Sacrifice.— 
Offerings.—Vows. — Things forbidden.—Jrreligion. — Tempting 
God.—Sacrilege of persons, places, and things.—Impiety.—Bad 
books.—Simony.—Superstition.—Idolatry.—Magic.—Divination. — 
Sorcery.—Vain observance.—Spiritism.—Ouija Board.—Charter 
of the Church.—Only one true religion.—Honor of angels and 
saints.—The Old and New Testaments.—Communion of saints. 
Honor to relics, etc.—The First Commandment the foundation 
of the others.—What follows from the want of the love of God. 

To adore God means literally to raise the hand to 
the mouth—to kiss a person’s hand from a sentiment 
of reverence. This action is common throughout the 
earth, and is one of the greatest marks of respect. It 
is used in a metaphorical and spiritual sense towards 
God. To adore God is the highest act of the creature 
to the Creator. By adoration we acknowledge God 
as our sovereign Lord and Master, our Preserver, and 
the supreme Arbiter and Judge of life and death. He 
is our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Preserver. All 
that we have, all that we are, and all that we hope for, 
comes from Him. He is the Maker and supreme 

254 










THE FIRST COMMANDMENT 255 

Owner of the universe, from the greatest thing to 
the least. 

If we realize this, we must surely know what it is 
to love God. He has given us life; He has given us 
grace; and He has created us that we may be happy 
with Him for eternity. “And we have known, and 
have believed the charity, which God hath to us. 
God is charity [love] ; and he that abideth in charity, 
abideth in God, and God in him.” 1 The adoration and 
love of God are manifested by faith, hope, charity, 
and the virtue of religion. 

Faith believes in Him and in His existence and in¬ 
finite perfections; that He alone is the infinite Truth. 
Hope trusts all care and all anxiety to Him as the in¬ 
finite Good. Charity, or love, acts towards Him as the 
supreme and infinite Love, and the source of all perfec¬ 
tions. 

If the respect and honor due from inferiors to supe¬ 
riors should be measured by the dignity and authority of 
superiors, how great should be the respect and honor 
that man owes to his sovereign Lord and Creator? 
Therefore, to God we are bound to give supreme and 
and undivided adoration. This adoration we render 
to Him by virtue of religion, for, as St. Alphonsus 
Liguori says: “Religion is a moral virtue by which 
men render to God due worship and honor as the Crea¬ 
tor of all things and the supreme Lord. 2 

The acts of religion are internal and external. The 
chief internal acts of religion are devotion and prayer. 
The external acts of religion are adoration, sacrifice, 
oblation, and vow. Devotion is an act of the will 
offering itself to God, to do promptly and joyfully all 
for His service. Prayer is that by which man shows 
his supreme need of the help of God, and acknowledges 
Him as the Author of every good. Adoration includes 


1 John iv. 16. 


2 Tract. 4, No. 14. 


THE FIRST COMMANDMENT 


256 

all those external signs by which we acknowledge the 
supreme dominion of God over us, and our absolute 
dependence upon Him. Nothing is more natural than 
this adoration, for man’s soul and body are made by 
God, and by soul and body He is to be adored. 

To adore God merely by external acts is a mockery, 
and if the soul prompt not the bodily actions, instead of 
rewarding, He will severely punish the impostor. 

Sacrifice is an offering to God of something that 
comes under the knowledge of our senses, and this 
thing is either destroyed or greatly changed. This 
is done to show the power of God over life and 
death. 

Sacrifice is as old as man: it is as universal as man. j 
No race has ever been found without it in one form or 
another. The great sacrifice of the New Law is the ; 
Mass. 

Oblation is the giving of worldly goods to be ; 
employed in God's worship : the ornamentation and 
building of schools, churches, and altars, also the main¬ 
tenance of the ministers of the altar. This offer¬ 
ing is of strict obligation and binds under sin. 

The vow is the dedicating of either oneself, or some ; 
portion of property, or the promise to do something; it 
must be made to God alone and binds under sin, accord¬ 
ing as the Church receives the vow or as the person 
binds himself. 

Hitherto we have treated upon what this first precept 
of the law commands us to do. We shall now see 
what it forbids. The first is, irreligion. Irreligion in¬ 
flicts dishonor and disrespect on God; it is a tempting 
of God; sacrilege, impiety and simony are irreligious. 1 
To tempt God is to make trial of His power, wisdom, 
justice or any of His attributes without a just cause; to 
pray without attention, or to imagine one will be saved 1 
without observing the law of God. In other words. I 
the sin of presumption is to tempt God. Sacrilege is 







THE FIRST COMMANDMENT 


257 

the bad use of anything holy; it may be of persons, 
places, or things. To break the vow of chastity is a 
sacrilege, for it violates the person vowed to God. 

Those who do bad acts, for instance, impurity, or 
murder in churches, chapels, or cemeteries, or who turn 
them into foul or profane uses, are guilty of sacrilege 
or profanation of a place. Those who profane chalices, 
vestments of the priest, or linens used at Mass are guilty 
of sacrilege, or profanation of a sacred thing. The 
most horrible sacrilege is to receive the Sacraments in 
the state of mortal sin. 

Impiety is a formal or affected contempt of religion. 
All who ridicule the practises and ceremonies of the 
Church, or who outrage crucifixes or holy pictures or 
images, as well as those who preach contempt for God 
and His Church, are guilty of this terrible sin. 

It is also impiety to print, sell, buy, lend or read im¬ 
moral or heretical books, because they destroy faith, as 
we know very well. All works condemned as immoral 
or heretical by the Holy See must not be read. 

Simony, called after Simon the Magician, who prac¬ 
tised it first in the days of St. Peter, is the buying or 
selling of holy things for money; it may be by money it¬ 
self, or it may be by praising a person, or it may be 
by service to a person. 

Superstition is the very opposite of irreligion, for the 
latter is the defect or want of religion, but the former 
is its excess. Superstition is the false, exaggerated or 
superfluous worship of God. Idolatry is one of its 
abominable manifestations; idolatry is at bottom 
devil worship. Christians do not worship idols, but 
some have recourse to the devil in magic, divination, 
sorcery, and vain observance. 

Magic is asking the devil to produce wonderful 
effects. Divination is asking the devil to show forth 
things that are to come: Here we have fortune-tellers, 
3 uija-boards, and mediums. A great deal of this kind 






258 THE FIRST COMMANDMENT 

of work is sleight of hand or false; some of it is true. 
In either case it is strictly forbidden by the law of God. 

Sorcery is the calling upon the devil for the purpose 
of doing injury to others, by incantations, spells or any 
other way. Vain observance is the invocation of the 
devil to do a service to oneself or others. All these 
things were punished in the Old Law with death. 

The modern form of all these of which I have been 
speaking is Spiritism. This claims the power to bring 
back the spirits of those who have died. It is very 
widespread in these days, and is a menace to Christi¬ 
anity. There is no doubt that a great deal of it is only 
a trick, or sleight of hand, but enough has been found 
out by experts to prove that it is from hell and not from 
heaven. God’s revelation is enough to know Him, to 
love Him, and to serve Him, and He promises eternal 
happiness to those who follow that revelation. He 
founded His Church as “the pillar and ground of the 
truth.” 3 And those who follow her guidance will be 
saved. The end of those who practise Spiritism, and 
of those who seek to know the future from what is 
known as the “ouija-board” is insanity, as is testified 
by many physicians, some of whom are not believers in 
revelation. It is a mortal sin to indulge in these prac¬ 
tises, and is strictly forbidden by the Church. Unlaw¬ 
ful worship is the adoration of God in a way that He 
does not approve. All heresy is hateful in the sight of 
God, because it is a tearing of the seamless robe of 
Christ. The charter of the Church was given by our 
divine Lord: “All power is given to Me in heaven and 
in earth. Going, therefore, teach ye all nations; baptiz¬ 
ing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things 
whatsoever I have commanded you; and behold I am 
with you all days, even to the consummation of the 
world.” 4 The Church cannot err in matters of faith 

3 I. Tim. iii. 15. 4 Matt, xxviii. 18-20. 


THE FIRST COMMANDMENT 


259 


and morals, for the Holy Ghost is with her, and the 
promise of Christ remains. One religion is not as 
good as another; there’s only one true religion. Hence 
love all men, but beware of false religion. Many have 
altogether lost their faith on this very point. 

The First Commandment does not forbid the honor 
due also to God’s blessed servants. It does not draw 
away from the supreme adoration we owe to Him; in 
fact, it promotes it, for in honoring them we honor 
Him who made them what they are. “God is wonder¬ 
ful in His saints.” 5 

The Old Testament and the New are filled with ex¬ 
amples of this honor to angels and saints. The first to 
whom honor is due above all created things is Mary, 
the Mother of God. No one can share her office. 
Then we have our guardian angel, our patron saint, and 
indeed the whole host of heaven to whom we can pray. 
This is what is meant by the Communion of Saints: 
the Church glorious in heaven, suffering in purgatory, 
fighting on earth, all united together, helping one an¬ 
other, and in praise of God. The honor we give to the 
relics, pictures, and statues of the saints is simply the 
outcome of that which we give to themselves in person. 
The world honors the relics, pictures, and statues of its 
heroes; why should not the Church do the same for her 
heroes? We have numerous examples of this in both 
the Old and the New Law. That is the reason why the 
Church dedicates altars, temples of worship, and schools 
of learning in their honor. There is nothing unreason¬ 
able or irreligious in all this, for it highly conduces to 
the supreme worship of the great God of heaven. 

This First Commandment is the foundation of all the 
others, and upon it is built all society and all civiliza¬ 
tion. To know, to love, and to serve God, is the high¬ 
est form of liberty. Take away this Commandment, 

and what will surely and speedily follow? Man must 

5 Ps. lxvii. 36. 


26 o 


THE FIRST COMMANDMENT 


love something, and if he does not love God he will love 
himself; and the exclusive love of oneself is really hatred 
of every one else. Anarchy, disorder, revolution will 
follow, and the earth will be covered with a deluge of 
the blackest crimes. See the history of men and of na¬ 
tions who have rejected God. The only real love is 
the love of God, and of man in God. Practically there 
are only two beings, as far as each man is concerned— 
God and himself. 


THE SECOND COMMANDMENT 


“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God 
in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that 
shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain.” 
(Exodus xx. 7.) 


SYNOPSIS 

This precept follows from the first.—Love of God’s Name.— 
Beneficial for the individual and society.—Honor and dishonor of 
God in speech.—What is meant by the Name of God.—The Jews 
never fully w’rote His Name.—How we honor the Name of God. 
We honor the Name of God by calling on Him for assistance and 
by hearing His word.—What is swearing.—Good under certain 
conditions.—The qualities of an oath.—Perjury.—A crime against 
society.—Many persons think nothing of perjury.—All injury by 
perjury must be repaired.—Other kinds of rash oaths.—What is 
cursing?—Generally swearing goes with cursing.—The sin may be 
lighter or no sin at all under certain circumstances.—Praise of 
God an obligation.—What is blasphemy?—Profanity?—What is 
a vow?—Do not take vows without advice.—The holy Name of 
Jesus. 

The Second Commandment naturally follows from 
and flows out of the First. For if we truly honor 
and love God, we shall never name Him without rever¬ 
ence. God Himself tells us this by the mouth of the 
prophet Malachy: “The son honoreth the father, and 
the servant his master: if then I be a Father, where is 
My honor? And if I be a Master, where is My fear? 
saith the Lord of hosts.” 1 

Those who take His Name in vain certainly do not 
honor God. If we pause for a moment to think of the 
infinite majesty of God, we cannot but see that the 
greatest possible love and adoration are due to Him 

1 Mai. i. 6. 


261 


262 


THE SECOND COMMANDMENT 


from His creatures and the greatest veneration for His 
holy Name. 

This Commandment, like the First, is wholly for our 
own individual advantage and for the benefit of society 
in general; it is the safeguard and protection of the 
First. It treats of honoring and dishonoring the Name 
of God by word or speech. I11 other words, we are 
commanded by it to honor the Name of God, and are 
strictly forbidden all disrespect of the holy Name. 

Now to honor the Name of God is not so much to 
pay attention U> the letters or the sounds of which it 
is composed, but to respect what is meant by the Name 
of God. As a matter of fact, the correct pronunciation 
and proper spelling of the ineffable Name given by God 
Himself to Moses have been lost, because the Jews 
never fully wrote the Name, by reason of reverence. 
But the Name of God represents His power, truth, wis¬ 
dom, justice, love and majesty: one God in three Per¬ 
sons. 

When, then, we publicly and at seasonable times pro¬ 
fess God to be our Lord and Master; when we defend 
His honor against blasphemers; when we correct blas¬ 
phemy, cursing and swearing, if we can, we honor the 
Name of God. And again, when we ourselves pro¬ 
nounce His Name, and the names of Mary and the 
angels and saints with respect, we honor the Name of 
God. 

“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth 
speaketh,” 2 and if God is in our heart in love He will 
surely be on our lips in the same way. St. Paul men¬ 
tions the holy Name of Jesus two hundred and nineteen 
times in his Epistles, because he had Jesus in his heart. 
It will be the same way with us; if Jesus is by love in 
our heart, He will be in reverence in our mouth. 

Therefore, we fulfill our obligation of reverence to 
the Name of God when we call Him, the Blessed 

2 Matt. xii. 34. 


THE SECOND COMMANDMENT 263 

Virgin, and the angels and saints to our assistance in 
temptations, trials, and all spiritual and temporal diffi¬ 
culties. And not only that, but when we hear His 
word in the Gospel and in Sermons, and meditate upon 
it with love and devotion and carefully practise it, we 
honor the holy Name of God. 

However, there are some persons who either in im¬ 
patience or pleasantry, out of an evil habit, pronounce 
lightly and frivolously the Name of God, of the Blessed 
Virgin, or some saint. This is a most reprehensible 
habit and shows a want of respect to God. It should 
be watched and the evil habit uprooted and supplanted 
by a better. 

I do, not say that it is a mortal sin, but it is certainly 
a venial one and may predispose to mortal sin. Our 
Saviour says: “I say unto you that every idle word 
that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it 
in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be 
justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” 3 

There is a worse sin of the tongue under this Com¬ 
mandment than that of the frivolous use of God’s holy 
Name or the names of His angels and saints, and that 
is the sin of swearing. Now, not every time a man 
swears does he commit a sin; in fact, by swearing one 
may render supreme homage to God. For what is 
swearing? It is the taking of an oath, the calling upon 
God to witness to the truth of what the person speaks. 
Now to do this, is to show forth God as the Supreme 
Truth. Hence in the Old and New Testaments we have 
the holiest persons taking oaths. God Himself has not 
disdained the taking of an oath, to strengthen our con¬ 
fidence in Him. This is attested in many places by the 
Holy Scriptures. 

But how shall an oath be taken? The answer is in 
the words of Jeremias the prophet: “Thou shalt swear 
as the Lord liveth in truth, and in judgment, and in 

a Matt, xii, 36, 37 * 


264 THE second commandment 

justice.” 4 That is to say, the oath must be true; it 
must be taken with mature deliberation; it must be for 
a good and reasonable cause. God Himself need not 
be personally invoked, but the holy Gospels, the Mass, 
the cross, the saints, can be called upon as testimony to 
the truth. 

Nothing is more useful to men than the proper and 
reasonable use of an oath. Many things in families, 
among individuals, in society, in the state are of such 
importance as to necessitate the oath. First, because 
men are prone to lie, especially for their own advantage; 
secondly, because not being able to know the secrets of 
the heart, men take their stand upon this most solemn 
obligation of calling God to witness the truth. 

Perjury is false swearing, and is a transgression 
against the most essential condition of an oath, namely, 
against the truth. It is a frightful sin to call the Eter¬ 
nal Truth to witness a lie. This is committed by any 
one who knows he is lying when he takes the oath; if 
he thinks he is lying, although what he says happens to 
be true; if he is uncertain whether what he says is true 
or false; if without a just cause he refuses to fulfill the 
obligations, or what he promised, under a rightful oath. 

Perjury is not only a crime against God, but it is 
a crime against society. Men must have faith in their 
fellow-men if society is to stand at all. This good 
faith is the basis of all contracts between men, and when 
these contracts are confirmed by an oath, should the 
oath be false, where are men to look for stability ? Let 
perjury be no longer a crime, and you dissolve society. 

The life of a man may be at the mercy of a perjurer. 
In perjury there is no smallness of matter—that is, to 
call God to witness a trivial lie is a mortal sin. Even 
the civil courts punish with the greatest severity the 
convicted perjurer, and society in general brands and 
avoids him, for he is a very dangerous man. 

4 Jer. iv. 2. 




THE SECOND COMMANDMENT 265 

Yet there are many people who think nothing of this 
horrible crime. For some temporal gain, sometimes 
to obtain a political office, to wreak spite or vengeance 
on their neighbor, and even to bring about his death, 
men will not hesitate to commit perjury, and profane 
the hallowed Name of God. Of course, all injury 
done to the neighbor or his family has to be repaired by 
the perjurer; it is not sufficient to be sorry for the crime 
itself of perjury; the evil effects of the perjury must be 
remedied, if possible, or forgiveness will not follow. 

Hitherto, I have been speaking of the regular form 
of an oath in public court, of Church or state. But 
there are rash, unjust, and unnecessary oaths, which 
are taken by very many people. Wherever you go you 
will hear these kinds of oaths—fathers and mothers 
swearing at their children; men and women in small 
groups or large, constantly swearing. It seems some 
people cannot carry on a conversation without fre¬ 
quently swearing. It is becoming a frightful habit. 
One cannot listen to a conversation nowadays without 
being disgusted, and having his ears filled by this 
horrible profanation of God’s Name. This prevalent 
method of swearing is not so bad as the regular method 
of taking an oath, as for instance, in a court of justice, 
or in contracts. But it is certainly a horrible practise 
to swear in anger or on every idle occasion. We pray 
every day, “Hallowed be Thy Name.” Just think of 
the way in which that Name is profaned by those who 
indulge in the detestable and irreligious habit of 
frivolous swearing! 

What is cursing? It is calling down judgment, or 
some evil, upon oneself, one’s neighbor, or some other 
creature of God. This is truly a horrible habit and is 
indulged in by as many as those who swear. In fact, 
the two forms are nearly always combined. Men swear 
evils against themselves, their neighbors, and other 
creatures of God. The one who wishes us the most evil 


266 


THE SECOND COMMANDMENT 


is the devil. He certainly curses us, especially when 
we do right; he is all the time blaspheming, swearing, 
and cursing. Some people imagine that the curses of 
others fall upon them. This is really foolish, for God 
will not heed such curses, except to severely punish the 
one who curses. God loves us too much to pay atten¬ 
tion to the curses of man or devil. 

In both rash oaths and cursing a habit may be con¬ 
tracted, which if seriously intended to be avoided makes 
the sin lighter and probably no sin at all, if the person 
should inadvertently break out by the force of that pre¬ 
vious bad habit. I beg of all those who have this habit 
to do all in their power to correct it day by day, and I 
ask those who are in danger of this habit to look to it 
that it gets no> hold upon them. It is harder to root 
out a bad habit than to strive against contracting it. 

To praise the holy Name of God is an obligation 
easy to understand, and it is perfectly reasonable. The 
opposite of this is blasphemy. Now understand, blas¬ 
phemy is not swearing or cursing; we have already ex¬ 
plained those two sins. 

What, strictly, is blasphemy? It is speaking evil of 
God, or of His saints, or speaking contemptuously of 
objects connected with the worship of God. Blas¬ 
phemy is essentially a mortal sin; it is diabolical and 
one of the greatest transgressions of the law of God. 

I think it will be sufficient if I tell you the different 
ways by which blasphemy is committed: (a) by at¬ 
tributing to God what does not belong to Him, saying 
He is cruel or unjust, and so forth; (b) by denying to 
God what belongs to Him; for instance, by saying that 
He is not merciful, that He cares nothing for us, or that 
He does not concern Himself about what happens on 
earth; (c) by attributing to creatures what belongs to 
God alone, as for instance, that the devil knows every¬ 
thing and can work miracles; (d) by cursing God, His 
Church, His saints, or any creature in which the power 


THE SECOND COMMANDMENT 267 

of God is particularly manifested,—as the human soul, 
heaven, earth; (e) by putting oneself, as it were, against 
the power of God, as in saying: Whether God likes 
it or not, I will do this or that; (/) by depriving 
religion or the saints of that which belongs to them; 
saying, for instance, religion is not true, one religion 
is as good as another, that the Blessed Virgin is like 
any other woman—meaning this as a slur on her. It 
is possible that some, at least, of these ways of com¬ 
mitting blasphemy may not be mortal sins, on account 
of inadvertence, want of thought or of malice. Never¬ 
theless, beware of all light speaking about God, His 
infinite attributes, His saints, especially His holy 
Mother, and all creatures in which He shows His power 
and glory. 

Profanity is the use of expressions that should not 
be heard amongst men, as damn, or damn it, hell, the 
devil, devilish, and such like. The best thing is not 
to use these expressions, for they may lead to worse 
ones. Of course, they are not mortal sins, but the fact 
that they are venial is no excuse for their use. Men 
can speak and convey their thoughts to one another 
very well without them. 

Lastly we have the vow. What is a vow? It is a 
deliberate promise by which a person enters into an 
engagement with God to perform some possible good 
work. A vow is then an act of supreme worship, for 
it can be made only to God. Then it is a deliberate 
promise, not merely a simple purpose or resolution. 
You are not obliged to make any vow at all, for a vow 
is above and beyond what is commanded. And again, 
the vow-niust be in agreement with the law of God. 

Some vow perpetually, some for a time, some for this 
thing, others for another thing. All religious Orders 
of men and women have the vows of poverty, chastity, 
and obedience. All vows have great merit. It is not 
necessary to go into any greater details, but let me 


268 


THE SECOND COMMANDMENT 


solemnly warn and caution you against taking vows 
without the advice of some very prudent director or 
confessor. It goes without saying that the Church, 
the living organization of God, can change vows, or 
annul them, or dispense from them; but this she will do 
only when there is a real necessity or a proper reason 
for doing so. 

I have reserved one thing to the last, and that is the 
reverent and irreverent use of the Holy Name of Jesus. 
It is the name of Mary’s Son, who is at the same time 
the Eternal Son of God. It means Saviour. He is 
our Saviour, and we ought to have His Holy Name 
always in our heart and often in love on our lips. | 
That Name was written over His cross of shame, and ; 
by that Name we will be saved. There is no other 
name under heaven which will save us. Therefore 
have great love and veneration for that most holy 
Name. 

You know the way in which it is profaned by Jew 
and Gentile and even by Catholics. It is used in 
brawls and fights, in drunkenness, in houses of prosti¬ 
tution, on the streets, and in the houses of rich and 
poor. It is shocking to hear the way in which it is 
profaned. Make atonement by your love and rever¬ 
ence. Often say: Blessed be the Name of Jesus, and 
the habit will be with you until the end of your life. 
Amen. 







THE THIRD COMMANDMENT 


“Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. 
Six days shalt thou labor, and shalt do all thy works. 
But on the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord 
thy God: thou shalt do no work on it, thou nor thy 
son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy 
maidservant, nor thy beast, nor the stranger that is 
within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made 
heaven and earth, and the sea, and all the things that 
are in them, and rested on the seventh day: there¬ 
fore the Lord blessed the seventh day and sanctified 
it.” (Exodus xx. 8, n.) 

SYNOPSIS 

Meaning of the word Sabbath .—Mere rest is not commanded.— 
Public worship enjoined.—Objects of the first three Command¬ 
ments.—Homage of heart, mouth, and body.—Public worship of 
God is founded on the law of nature.—Found among all peoples. 
—No particular day by the law of nature.—Why the Sabbath was 
chosen.—The Church does not keep the Sabbath.—It is called the 
Lord’s Day.—What is forbidden in work?—Three kinds of work. 
—Liberal works are allowed.—Mixed works are allowed.— 
Extent of Sunday’s obligation.—To work three hours is a mortal 
sin.—Sins of other kinds on the Lord’s Day.—Society and the 
Lord’s Day.—Reasons for dispensation.—What is commanded on 
the Lord’s Day.—The Mass.—Other things ought to be done and 
may be binding under sin.—Sermons.—Ignorance of some per¬ 
sons.—Brings harm to the Church.—Children and the Catholic 
schools.—Mass.—The obligation of hearing Mass.—Who must 
hear it?—How it must be heard.—Attention at Mass.—Respect.— 
Acts of contrition.—Prayers.—Be at the whole Mass.—Excuses 
for non-attendance at Mass.—Same obligation for Sunday and 
holy-day. 

The word Sabbath is Hebrew, and signifies cessa¬ 
tion or rest from labor. But this is not the only 
object of God’s command, for this rest from labor 

is intimately connected with something else, namely, 

269 








270 


THE THIRD COMMANDMENT 


the sanctification or making holy of the day itself. 
Mere idleness or, if you will, restfulness has nothing 
in itself to commend it to God, but when this rest is 
enjoined in order to have time and opportunity for 
the public worship of God it is not the mere restful- 
ness, but the worship that holds the first place in the 
law. 

Now, we are the subjects and servants of God, and 
should show this by the observance of these first three 
Commandments. In the First Commandment, we 
show forth our fidelity to God; in the Second, we honor 
Him by having due respect for His titles and Name; 
in the Third, we publicly worship Him by our exter¬ 
nal acts and social service. So that by these three 
Commandments we are called upon to begin with the 
homage of the heart, then to give the reverence of 
the mouth, the outcome of the heart, and finally, the 
service of the body—the result of heart and mouth. 

Although we have this command of sanctifying the 
Sabbath from divine revelation, yet the precept of the 
public and social worship of God is founded on the 
very law of nature. All peoples, wherever found, and 
even at the present time, had and have certain days 
consecrated to the public worship of the true God, or 
of the false gods which they worshipped. From the 
very earliest times, even ages and ages before the Ten 
Commandments were given on Mount Sinai, we know 
from ancient Babylonian and Chaldean inscriptions 
that men had a certain day set aside for the public 
worship of their idols. As nature has certain times 
for the functions necessary for bodily life, so religion 
has certain times for the renewal of the souks strength. 
Whence is all this, except from the very law of our 
nature? Flowever, the law of nature does not tell us 
to sanctify any particular day in the week; this was 
reserved for revelation, either in the beginning from 
God, or later, explicitly in the Ten Commandments. 







THE THIRD COMMANDMENT 2JI 

The Sabbath was chosen by Almighty God to cele¬ 
brate the mysterious rest which He took after the 
creation of all things; also, that men might have a 
perpetual reminder of that same creation; finally, that 
giving servants and beasts a rest on the Sabbath Day, 
men might learn to be compassionate to their fellow- 
men and domestics, and show kindness even to the 
beasts created for their use and comfort. 

Now, the Sabbath Day mentioned in the Ten Com¬ 
mandments corresponds fi> our Saturday, and is the 
last day of the week. 

The Catholic Church does not keep holy the Sabbath 
Day, but has transferred the obligation to the first day 
of the week, known commonly among English-speak¬ 
ing people as Sunday, the day dedicated by the early 
pagans to the worship of the sun. Why has the 
Church changed the day? You know that the Jewish 
law was only the preparation for the law of Christ; 
it was only the shadow, whereas now we have the sub¬ 
stance and reality. When Christ came many of the 
Jewish ceremonial observances were either done away 
with or were elevated into the Christian religion. So 
the Sabbath Day became the Lord’s Day, or what we 
commonly call Sunday. Christ Himself did not 
change it, but His Apostles did. 

St. Leo the Great gives the reasons for this change. 
“Whatever great things Almighty God worked he did 
on this day. The Resurrection of our Lord occurred 
on this day; the Apostles received their commission to 
preach and teach the world, and baptize all nations 
on this day; they also received the power of forgiving 
sins on this very day; and on this day the Holy Ghost 
came upon them in the form of fire, filling their hearts 
with love and wonderful courage.” There is a tradi¬ 
tion that Christ was born on this day. It is now 
called the Lord’s Day; the Sabbath is taken away for 
the reasons just given. So that in consecrating the 


272 


THE THIRD COMMANDMENT 


first day of the week the Church honors the Father 
as Creator and Preserver, the Son as the Saviour and 
Redeemer, and the Holy Ghost as the Principle of 
Love, and the Sanctifier of men. 

What is forbidden to be done on the Lord’s Day? 
There are three kinds of work done by all classes of 
men, namely, those that are liberal, those that are 
common or mixed, and those that are servile. 

Liberal works are those that exercise the mind more 
than the body, which tend to the mind’s cultivation. 
Reading, writing, typewriting, studying, drawing on 
w'ood, canvas, or cloth, playing on instruments, and 
teaching,—these and such like are allowed on Sundays. 

Then there are mixed works which exercise the 
mind and the body, such as driving horses or auto¬ 
mobiles, or sailing for pleasure, hunting which does 
not entail great labor, fishing with simple rod and 
line, playing golf, base-ball, hand-ball, especially when 
these games are for recreation and exercise only; these 
are certainly allowed on Sundays. 

It is a good opinion which holds that persons may 
buy and sell on Sundays the things necessary for daily 
life, and that people coming into towns from the 
country, especially for Mass., may buy what is nec¬ 
essary to last for several weeks, or even longer, such 
as food, clothing and other things. In many cases, 
Sunday is the only day these persons have in which 
to do these things; for the roads may be bad, the 
weather may be inclement, the distance may be great. 
Custom, which is allowed by the Church, has a great 
deal of force in different places. 

The last kind is servile works. These works are 
so called because they exercise the body more than 
the mind, and tend to the advantage of the body only. 
To carry on trade openly and publicly by open shops, 
stores, warehouses and such like, also public fairs 
in which commerce is carried on, also to hold civil 










THE THIRD COMMANDMENT 273 

courts, in which witnesses, juries, and lawyers are 
present, also all marketing—all these and like servile 
works are forbidden on Sundays. 

The obligation of abstaining from servile works 
extends from midnight of Saturday to midnight of 
Sunday. To work at servile labor on the -Lord’s 
Day, without real necessity, theologians say would be 
a mortal sin, if it is done for about three hours. 

But there is another kind of work pre-eminently the 
work of servility, or slavery of the devil, forbidden 
on Sunday, and that is sin. By reason of the rest 
on that day, there is the liability of drunkenness, ca¬ 
rousing, debauchery, and lechery. The Sunday is pro¬ 
faned more by these and other sins against God and 
society than it is by servile works. 

The profanation of the Lord’s Day disturbs so¬ 
ciety. The evils of society begin in each person’s soul. 
Christianity is the saviour of the individual soul and 
of society in general. Now, without the Sunday rest, 
and the want of attention of men to their obligations 
on that day, society and individuals will lose their 
character and will go from bad to worse. The pro¬ 
fanation of the Lord’s Day dishonors society, for the 
weekly rest is as old as man, and whenever it is not 
observed society is degraded and dishonored. You can¬ 
not get seven days’ labor all the time out of men or 
women; inefficiency in one way or another will be the 
result, as is well known to all social economists. 

However, reasons of charity, of piety, and of 
necessity dispense from the obligation. As there are 
many cases occurring under these different heads, it 
would be well to ask the confessor, or the parish priest, 

I in cases of doubt. The Church is the kindest of 
mothers, who is only too willing to dispense in the 
wants and necessities of her children. No other 
organization in the world is as gentle as the Church, 
for the charity of Christ impels her. 








274 THE THIRD commandment 

It is now necessary to speak on what you are com¬ 
manded to do on the Lord’s Day. First and foremost 
comes the great obligation of hearing Mass. Of 
this, we will speak a little later on. But there are 
other things which do not bind like the precept of 
hearing Mass, and yet would be obligatory upon 
persons. 

For instance, to be present at devotions during which 
a sermon or instruction is preached, especially for 
those who are ignorant of the duties of a Christian 
life. The very law of nature tells us that we cannot 
be ignorant of these important duties, or we shall be 
responsible before God. It is astonishing how ignorant 
many people are of many things in the Ten Command¬ 
ments, the Precepts of the Church, the duties of their 
different states of life, and of the beautiful symbolism 
of the Church. Of course, if they do not know these 
things themselves, the chances are that their children 
too are ignorant of them. What I say is not al¬ 
together of the poor and the unlettered; it is your 
purse-proud man, and your would-be educated man of 
whom this can truly be said. The ignorance in these 
things of some people is really lamentable, and 
it brings a great deal of harm to the Church. They 
can settle every dispute; they can whittle away to 
nothing the doctrines of the Church; they can make 
plausible excuses, but they are a disgrace to the Church 
and really know nothing about her or her doctrines. 

Would it not be well if these people were instructed? 
But they will read nothing calculated to teach them 
anything, and are the first to find flaws in the Church 
and in the sermons. These are the ones who do not 
send their children to the Catholic school, and very 
seldom to catechism on Sundays. Sometimes the 
result is loss of faith. 

Again, to read the Holy Scriptures, especially the 
New Testament, is an act of particular obligation on 









THE THIRD COMMANDMENT 


2/5 


the Lord’s Day. Nowadays, copies of the Old and 
New Testaments can be bought at a small outlay, but 
how few there are who read them! An indulgence is 
attached to the reading of the Scriptures, but compara¬ 
tively few there are who seek it. What a grand and 
instructive act it would be to have read before all in the 
house at least one chapter of the New Testament every 
Sunday! 

Then again, to visit the sick, help the poor, and, in 
short, to perform the spiritual and corporal works of 
mercy are very meritorious on the Lord’s Day; also, 
attendance at Benediction in the evening. 

I will not say that to omit these and other good 
works on Sunday is of itself a mortal sin, but I do say 
that those who intend to lead good, pious, Catholic 
lives are more or less bound to them, as circumstances 
will permit their fulfillment. 

Now, I have reserved for the last the great obligation 
of the day, namely, attendance at Mass. All the faith¬ 
ful, having the use of reason, are bound under pain of 
mortal sin to be present at Mass on every Sunday and 
holy-day. 

This very strict obligation binds all, namely, chil¬ 
dren and grown people; no one, throughout the world, 
is exempt from the obligation. If priests, bishops, 
and cardinals cannot say Mass they must hear it, or it 
is a mortal sin for them, too. But how are you to 
assist at Mass ? As I am speaking only on the obliga¬ 
tion of hearing Mass, I cannot go into details. Suffice 
it to say that attention must be paid to the holy 
Sacrifice; mere bodily presence is not enough; you 
ought to read your prayer-book, or say the Rosary 
during the Mass. Do not gape around, but attend to 
yourself and the priest at the altar. Be respectful and 
think of the awful Sacrifice at which you are privileged 
to assist, for it is the renewal of Calvary. Go to Mass 
with the intention of honoring God, offer yourself to 




276 THE THIRD COMMANDMENT 

Him who died for you, and make acts of contrition 
for your sins, and ask all the blessings and graces of 
which you stand in need. Be at the whole Mass. 
Some people are never or seldom in time for the be¬ 
ginning of Mass—always running, always late. It is 
a bad habit, and some have unfortunately contracted 
it. 

It is not the length of the Mass that is of im¬ 
portance; it is what is done. The Mass is not so 

much a prayer as a sacrificial action. It is the holiest 
action that can be performed. Therefore, absence 
through one’s own fault is a mortal sin. 

The excuse for non-attendance must be grave; no 
light or frivolous excuse will save from mortal sin. 
All those who keep children away are guilty of a 
mortal sin for every child. What I have said as re¬ 
gards Sunday also holds good with reference to work, 
good deeds, and Mass on holy-days. Especially as 

regards the hearing of Mass, there is no difference 

between Sunday and holy-day. 












THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT 


‘‘Honor thy father and thy mother, that thou mayest 
be long-lived upon the land which the Lord thy God 
will give thee.” (Exodus xx. 12.) 

SYNOPSIS 

The first three Commandments refer primarily to God.—The 
other seven refer to our neighbor.—The scope of the Fourth Com¬ 
mandment.—The foundation of society is the family.—Who are 
our nearest neighbors?—What do we mean by children?—Love 
for parents.—Obedience to parents.—Obedience sometimes ceases. 
—Love and reverence never cease.—Gravity of faults.—Obliga¬ 
tions of parents to children.—True, efficacious and well-ordered 
love for children. Care before birth.—Baptism.—Affections of the 
heart.—Religous education.—The first school is home.—Obliga¬ 
tions of the father.—The Catholic school.—The non-Catholic 
school.—Good example.—The temporal good of children.—Grave 
sins of parents.—Love of husbands and wives.—Masters and em¬ 
ployers.—Servants and workmen.—The laws of the State.— 
Voting; its duty and obligation.—The benefits of this Command¬ 
ment.—Catholic magazines and papers.—Crucifix and religious 
emblems. 


The first three Commandments have reference 
primarily to Almighty God, and are called the first 
table of God’s laws; the second table, or the remaining 
seven treat of our duties towards our neighbor. All 
these seven may be brought under one heading, namely, 
the love of our neighbor as ourselves for the love of 
God. 

What does the Commandment mean by fathers and 
mothers ? It has a far wider meaning than the words 
themselves express; for it takes in our natural parents 
and all elderly persons; again, it has in view our 
spiritual superiors, such as the Pope, bishops, priests 
and godparents; it has reference also to our civil 

superiors, such as kings, presidents, mayors, magis- 

277 


278 THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT 

trates and all who hold civil authority; and finally, 
rules the conduct of employees towards their masters 
and mistresses. 

From this sketch you can easily see the far-reaching 
consequences of this part of God’s law. The family 
is the foundation of society; and it is with that that 
God begins, as it were, to build up society. If all 
families would observe this Commandment, there 
would be very little sin and trouble in the world. 

Our nearest and dearest neighbors are those from 
whom, under God, we have received life, our natural 
parents. We are strictly bound to honor and obey 
them above all others; first, because God positively 
says so; again, because the very nature of man dic¬ 
tates it, and lastly from the motives of gratitude for 
all they have done for us. It is not needful for me 
to speak now of its necessity, for that is shown by the 
will of God in giving the Commandment. 

In speaking of children in this instruction, it is to 
be understood that I do not mean what is commonly 
conveyed to the mind by that word, namely, very 
young members of a family. By the word children 
is meant in the law all persons who live with, or under 
the dominion >of their parents, no matter of what age 
these persons may be. 

The first obligation is that of love. It argues for 
the perversity of human nature when God deemed it 
necessary to supplement the law of nature by a posi¬ 
tive command, and He has added even temporal bless¬ 
ings for its fulfillment. The very brutes have some¬ 
thing akin to love for those who have given them 
birth. Now the love of children must begin from the 
heart, and must be based upon the supernatural 
principle. It must also be external, so that both in¬ 
ternally and externally there may be the sincere wish 
and act to do all the good that can reasonably be ex¬ 
pected for the souls and the bodies of parents. Chil- 


THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT 


279 


clren must guard their parents, as far as possible, from 
all evils of soul and body. They must give them 
external signs of reverence, and help them in all their 
necessities of soul and body. It is sinful and directly 
opposed to filial piety to 'hate one’s parents, to wish 
evil to them or re juice at misfortune that may happen 
to them, to long for their death, or to sadden and 
grieve them. The foundation of the dignity of par¬ 
ents is that they hold the place of God, as far as chil¬ 
dren are concerned. That is the principal reason why 
they should have respect; and, as with love, so our 
respect for our parents must be internal and external. 

By internal respect I mean that children should 
esteem their parents, fear to offend them, and look 
upon them as God’s vice-gerents on earth. External 
respect towards parents should manifest itself in the 
looks, words, and actions of children. They should 
ask their advice, defer to their opinion and receive 
corrections and reproofs with docility and submission. 
It is sinful to pay no attention to their words and 
admonitions; much more so to ridicule them, to be 
morose, or impertinent, or make them angry replies. 

By disobedience sin came in the world, and by 
obedience it was saved. Adam disobeyed; Christ 
obeyed. So by disobedience sin comes into the family, 
and by obedience it is saved. 

Children owe obedience to their parents in all things 
that are according to the law of God. Obedience ought 
to be simple, that is, children should do just as they are 
told, and not fight or argue over what is commanded; 
it should be prompt, that is, the order should not be 
deferred but carried out as soon as possible; and 
finally it should be constant, that is, not in fits and 
starts, not now and again, but at all times and under 
all possible circumstances. 

Children sin who cause the same command to be re¬ 
peated over and over again; who attend to it slowly,, 


28 o 


THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT 


and with a bad grace, thereby causing impatience, 
anger, and maybe swearing. 

Finally, children must assist their parents. Love 
that gives no return is no love at all; it is only idle 
talk. Therefore, children will attend to the spiritual 
and bodily wants of their parents. They gave us 
birth, nourished us for years, clothed us, brought us 
up, educated us, and all this with a great deal of 1 
trouble, trial and anxiety on their part. What should 
we do in return ? The answer is given in two words : 
everything possible. 

However, obedience must be rendered to parents 
by children only during the time of life when the latter 
are under the dominion of the former. But when chil¬ 
dren marry and bring up families of their own, or 
when they become priests or religious, then obedience 
strictly speaking ceases; but the love and reverence of 
children for their parents should never cease. 

This love, reverence, and obedience must be given 
even by children to parents who have their own faults, 
for to them they owe life and preservation. Children 
sin gravely if they strike their parents, or even at¬ 
tempt injuriously to strike them. Also, if they insult 
them by words or acts; if they laugh at them in 
derision, make fun of them, make little of them—pro¬ 
vided this proceeds from a spirit of contempt and with 
the intention of lowering them in the eyes of others 
either in or out of the family. Children sin gravely 
who despise their parents because they are poorly clad, 
and are therefore ashamed of them, refuse to acknowl¬ 
edge them, and treat them like strangers; this, how¬ 
ever, must proceed from contempt and pride. 

I must say in this connection that mortal sin is not 
always committed in the cases I have spoken of, on 
account of the want of a bad intention and the light¬ 
ness of the actions. I do say, however, that all want 


THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT 2§I 

of love, reverence, and obedience to parents is more 
or less sinful, according to circumstances. 

Up to the present, the instruction has been on the 
obligations of children toward their parents; but were 
the instruction to end here, it would be faulty, and 
would not fulfill the intent of the law of God. 

If children are bound by strict obligations to love, 
reverence and obey their parents, the latter are bound 
by just as strict laws towards their children. If 
parents would do their full duty towards their children, 
the children in the great majority of cases Would do 
theirs towards their parents. The trouble nearly 
always begins with the parents themselves. 

Now, parents are bound by many obligations 
towards their children; yet these obligations can be re¬ 
duced to only two, namely, love and education. 

Parents must have a true, efficacious, and well- 
ordered love for their children; this is based on the 
very law of nature by the title of generation. The 
law of nature impels each one to love himself, and the 
same law tells him to love his child, as flesh of his 
flesh, and bone of his bone, and blood of his blood. 
This love of parents for their children must begin not 
after their birth, but before it: for they are their 
children from the moment of conception. Therefore, 
both parents are bound by the strictest law to take care 
of the unborn child. 

As the human soul is far above and nobler than the 
body, so the soul of the child is the first thing to be 
cared for. Therefore, baptism is not to be delayed. 
It is a serious thing to do so beyond eight days after 
birth, no matter how healthy the child may be. Every 
child the parents have is a most precious trust given 
by God. He owns the child as well as He owns the 
parents; they are only caretakers in His employment. 

The love of parents for their children must come 


28)2 


THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT 


from the heart, and manifest itself outwardly by pro¬ 
curing all the good possible for them. 

The first thing to be procured is religious education; 
that is, the child must be taught its duties to God. 
It must be taught how to pray, how to observe God’s 
law, and how to avoid offending Him. The first 
school in the world is the home, and the parents are 
the first teachers. No one else is bound by the law 
so much as the parents themselves; but it will not do 
to leave all responsibility to the mother, for the father 
is responsible even more than the mother. Of 
course, the child is ordinarily thrown more into the 
company of the mother, and is placed more im¬ 
mediately under her care than under that of the 
father, especially during its infancy and earlier life; 
but that does not entirely take away his duties and 
obligations as regards the religious education of 
his children; for he is the head of the family, and his 
shirking and false excuses will not change the nature 
of things. 

To neglect these grave obligations is a very serious 
matter for parents and yet to this neglect may be 
traced all, or nearly all, the disorder in families and 
society. If, after the first rudiments of religious in¬ 
structions, the parents have neither time nor op¬ 
portunity, they must see that their children are en¬ 
trusted to those who have the time, and opportunity, 
and ability to give religious instruction. In other 
words, they must be sent to a Catholic school. The 
conscience of the parents is burdened with the gravest 
obligation on this point. To send the growing child, 
with its mind open to all kinds of impressions, into a 
school where it never hears a word about God; where 
the names of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are never 
mentioned; where there is no prayer, no crucifix, no 
picture, nor statue of saint or angel, is a terribly cruel 
thing. He or she is surrounded by other children of 










THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT 283 

a different religion or, maybe, no religion at all, and 
the teacher may be of the same kind, What must 
the child think of all this? And the child thinks and 
receives impressions. Surely it is a terribly cruel 
thing to do this. And parents do it to their own chil¬ 
dren; their own flesh and blood! If a Catholic school 
cannot be found, it becomes doubly incumbent on the 
parents to make up for its loss. 

But what is to be thought of parents who, for the 
sake of worldly gain, and with the object of getting 
them into what is known as society, send their chil¬ 
dren to the openly atheistic higher educational 
establishments ? The lower schools are simply nega¬ 
tive—that is bad enough—but these higher schools 
are downright anti-Christian: God, religion, and 
morality are openly scoffed at, or at best explained 
away. This is why many children are losing, as many 
have already lost, their faith, all on account of their 
own parents. Look around you and see. I have not 
the slightest hesitancy in saying that those who thus 
expose their children to the loss of faith, merely for 
worldly gain, or social ends, are heading straight for 
hell, which they will not escape except by a miracle of 
God’s grace. 

Again, parents are bound to correct their children; 
but they should not find fault with trifles and indul¬ 
gently pass over serious matters. They must give 
their children good example; for all preaching, all 
scolding, and fault-finding will amount to nothing 
when good example is not given. If you want them 
to pray, pray yourselves; if you want them to receive 
the Sacraments often, do so yourselves; if you want 
them to obey and love you, obey and love each other. 

Parents must see what company their children keep, 
especially the girls; what they read and where they 
go. Many a family has trouble, and sorrow, and 
scandal for failure on this score. 






284 THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT 

Of course, parents ought and are bound to look out 
for the temporal welfare of their children. To give 
them a good education, to clothe them, feed them, and 
get them, or help them to get, good positions in life. 
But they must not give them, especially when young, 
everything they ask for in order to preserve a mistaken 
peace. 

Parents sin gravely who put off for a considerable 
time the baptism of their children; who do not teach 
them, or have them taught from their earliest years, 
the principal doctrines of the Church; if they do not 
correct them in grave matters; finally, if they 
scandalize them by bad example in lasciviousness, 
drunkenness, foul speech, or blasphemy, or teach them 
to do anything gravely wrong, or allow them to do it 
without correction. 

Husbands and wives are solemnly bound to love 
each other; for since they are one flesh, they ought 
to have one heart. All quarreling, fighting, and bicker¬ 
ing must be avoided, and there must be peace, for 
peace is the tranquillity of order. The husband is 
particularly bound to look out for the good of his 
family, both temporal and eternal, for he is the head, 
and is responsible to God. The wife is bound to re¬ 
spect and reve're her husband, to be obedient, not as a 
child or a servant, but as a wife—the co-equal of the 
husband. 

Masters and employers are bound to treat their 1 
servants and workmen decently and humanely, con¬ 
sidering that before God all are alike, and that their J 
servants and workmen may be better than they are in 
His sight. They are commanded to instruct and 
correct their workmen and servants; give them op¬ 
portunity to attend to their religious duties, and pay 
their just wages. On the other hand, servants are 
bound to politeness, service, and obedience, even as 
to Christ. Servants and all workmen are bound to 







J 


THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT 


285 


do an honest day’s work and to be faithful. Men and 
women who shirk their work and leave it undone may 
be compared to thieves, for they sin against justice. 

All are strictly bound to obey the laws of the state 
and to have respect for those over them. The ballot 
is more powerful than the bullet, and therefore all who 
have a right to vote should do so. In voting, the first 
duty of all is to safeguard the rights and liberties of 
the Church. Everything and every measure contrary 
to the Church, the home, and the school should be des¬ 
troyed by the Catholic voter. Do not vote for nominal 
Catholics, many of whom are a disgrace to their re¬ 
ligion, who at election time promise everything and 
after it perform nothing; they are working religion 
for their own selfish ends; better an upright non- 
Catholic than these hypocrites. Vote for the best 
interests of the city, state, and nation, for you are 
morally bound to do so. 

If what I have outlined in this instruction were 
practised, there would be very few wars, very little 
talk of socialism, and the sciences of political economy 
and of sociology would have few students, for there 
would be nothing to teach nor scholars to be taught. 
Instead of trouble, turmoil, and sin, peace, happiness, 
and contentment would reign supreme, v 

It would not be proper for me to finish this in¬ 
struction without telling you that every home ought to 
subscribe for one or two Catholic magazines or papers. 
The Catholic press ought to be encouraged and helped, 
for it works against great odds, and under great dif¬ 
ficulties. It cannot compete with the secular press, for 
the simple reason that it must not print the same kind 
of news. But for good, clean, and instructive news the 
, Catholic press is to be patronized by our people, and its 
magazines and papers should be read- and not thrown 
aside. 

1 ^ 

Also, no home should be without the crucifix and 




286 THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT 

pictures of the saints and angels, which should not be 
hidden away, but put in prominent places where every¬ 
one can see them. A Catholic home should be known 
and recognized by its Catholic emblems of love and 
devotion to God. 

There should be holy water in every home and it 
should be sprinkled at different times, for the prayer 
of the Church in blessing the water is intended to keep 
away all evils from persons and things upon which it 
is sprinkled. 

Every person in the family should have a prayer- 
book or a rosary. 





THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT 
“Thou shalt not kill.” (Exodus xx. 13.) 


SYNOPSIS 

The Fourth Commandment provides for families and society.— 
The Fifth provides for individuals.—Negative and positive.— 
Three kinds of homicide.—It is not a sin in itself to take human 
life.—The murderer forfeits his life to the state.—War.—In doubt 
as to its justice.—Guilt indirectly incurred.—Doctors, druggists, 
nurses, and parents.—Abortion.—Definition of abortion.—Those 
procuring abortion are excommunicated.—Reserved to the Bishop. 
—Many select children as if they were brutes.—Ovariotomy and 
vasectomy.—Duelling.—Suicide.—It may be lawful to concur in 
one’s own death.—Hatred, anger, revenge, etc., forbidden.— 
Scandal. 


In the last instruction we saw how good God is in 
providing for the happiness of the family and of 
society. We will now treat of a command by which 
He takes care of every individual human being in the 
world. The command, “Thou shalt not kill,” is 
given to mankind in general and to each person in 
particular. It guards the unborn child as well as the 
weak and poor and helpless of the world. It makes 
human life a most sacred object and surrounds it with 
the ramparts of God’s power and love. 

It is both a negative and a positive command, inas¬ 
much as it prohibits the unjust killing of a human being, 
and all unjust attacks upon him, wounding, striking, or 
mutilating him; it also prohibits suicide and the un¬ 
necessary wounding or mutilating of oneself. In its 
positive aspect, it commands that proper and reasonable 
care be taken of one’s health. 

There are three kinds of homicide, or the killing of 

a man—murder, duelling, and suicide. Murder is the 

287 

i 



288 


THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT 


wilful and unjust taking away of the life of another 
person. As human life is the greatest gift of God, and 
as its possession is beyond all price, so its destruction 
wilfully and unjustly is a most grievous crime before 
God, and the greatest injury that can be inflicted on 
one’s neighbor. The first murderer was Cain, who 
deliberately killed his brother Abel, and God marked 
him with a sign, and his name has come down to us 
through all the ages branded with infamy. Murder 
of any human being is fundamentally the same sin, 
but some murders have superadded, malice. There 
is premeditated murder, like Cain’s: also, murder 
under the cloak of justice, and by perjury, as when 
a man’s life is falsely sworn away: also, when the 
victim is a person whose life is necessary for the good 
of others, as are superiors, or fathers and mothers, 
and all those upon whom others are dependent; also, 
the murder to which is added sacrilege, as of men in 
sacred Orders, or nuns. It is all the more frightful, 
the nearer in blood the murderer is to the person 
murdered, as between a husband and wife, parents 
and children, brothers and sisters. 

Now, before going further in this instruction, I 
wish to tell you that the mere fact of taking human 
life is not a sin; indeed, it may be very beneficial to 
society, and, incidentally, to the very individual whose 
life is taken. 

It is perfectly lawful for public authority to take 
the life of a great malefactor or evildoer; one, for 
instance, who has himself unjustly taken the life of 
another. The murderer has robbed a fellow-being 
of his life; the only reasonable way is to make his 
life forfeit to the state. He has destroyed the dear¬ 
est possession of his fellow-man; it is reasonable that 
he should lose his dearest possession—his life—in rec¬ 
ompense for the evil he has wrought and as a de¬ 
terrent to others, as well as in vindication of the 





THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT 


289 

outraged law. A great deal of controversy is carried 
on by some would-be saviours of society, and social 
workers, to prove that the state commits murder by 
taking the life of such evil men, and say that it is no 
deterrent, and that nothing is gained by it. But ob¬ 
servation, the common consent of men, and statistics 
are wholly against them. Again, in just war, it is 
lawful to take life, for ordinarily speaking, as things 
unfortunately are at present, the only way to repel 
the invader, or vindicate the insult to the nation, is 
generally by war, and war means death to some. In 
case of doubt in the mind of the general run of men 
as to the justice of the war, when it cannot be cleared 
up, the reasonable way is to let those who govern look 
to the responsibility. If the war is unjust, what a 
fearful accounting some men will have before God! 

The guilt of murder is incurred not only by di¬ 
rectly killing a man, but by indirectly contributing to¬ 
wards that end. Those who command it, counsel 
it, approve of it, encourage it, or supply any means 
of doing it, are all equally guilty before God. Physi¬ 
cians and surgeons who let people die by their gross 
carelessness or ignorance; druggists who through great 
inattention make up wrong prescriptions; nurses who 
are very careless in watching dangerously sick per¬ 
sons ; fathers and mothers who take little babies to 
bed with them and smother them, are indirectly guilty 
of murder. It is as much murder to kill the child 
in the womb as to kill a grown-up man. In fact, it 
is more cowardly, for the child in the womb is per¬ 
fectly helpless and is wholly at the mercy of the 
murderer. Besides that, it has no chance of bap¬ 
tism; murdered before it sees the light. It has done 
no wrong; it is no aggressor; the parents placed it 
there, and yet it is murdered. It is a human being 
from the first moment of conception, and has as much 
right to life as the parents. And the parents murder 






290 


THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT 


it, or the woman—the mother—murders it, because 
it is an inconvenience, or because she is ashamed, or 
even because it is alive at all. This is the terrible 
sin of abortion, which is the casting out of the im¬ 
mature child from the womb of the mother. It is 
never lawful directly to procure abortion—to do the 
act I have just now defined. It is a mortal sin of 
murder, and all those who bring about abortion, such 
as the doctor, the mother herself, as well as those 
without whose help the abortion would not have taken 
place, are punished by the Church with excommunica¬ 
tion, and the crime is reserved to the bishop. 

It behooves all Catholics to be careful in choosing 
physicians in the case of childbirth. In some of our 
higher schools of medicine, it is practically taught that 
the unborn child should have little consideration when 
it comes to a very difficult operation. So it is nec¬ 
essary to be very cautious in this most important 
matter. Alas! how many murders are committed 
under the name of abortion! In a great many cases, 
children are not allowed to be born at all on the same 
principle of selection as that of brutes. It is a sin 
crying to God for vengeance, and those who follow 
this principle are often punished in this life by being 
deprived of the few children they have and so die 
childless, unwept and forgotten. 

I said in the beginning of this instruction that this 
Commandment forbids mutilation. There is a cer¬ 
tain kind of mutilation of which I now wish parti¬ 
cularly to speak. All operations which are performed 
on men and women without grave necessity—that is, 
all those operations for the sole purpose of producing 
sterility in men and women, are absolutely against 
the law of nature, and in married people, against the 
very end of marriage. Those who perform them as 
well as those who submit to them are guilty of mortal 
sin. It is allowed to no man to deprive himself of 





THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT 29 1 

the power of generation, and to no woman of the 
power of conception, without a corresponding grave 
cause. This binds all men and women. 

Before finishing this part of the discourse, let me 
remind you that it is lawful for a person to defend 
his own life, and the lives of others, especially of his 
own relations, by the killing of an unjust aggressor. 
This is by the very law of nature, because by his 
attack the aggressor has forfeited his right to his life, 
which may be taken, if there is no other way to repel 
the attack. 

Duelling is another terrible sin forbidden by this 
Commandment. It is a combat which is liable to 
end in death between two or more persons, after hav¬ 
ing arranged beforehand the place, the hour, and 
the mode of combat. In most cases, this barbarous 
method of settling real or fancied wrongs is selected 
by private authority. Not only is it a fearful crime 
before God, but the Church punishes all those who 
engage in it by the following law: “All persons en¬ 
gaging in a duel, or simply provoking persons to it, 
likewise all those who are present at it even as spec¬ 
tators, those permitting it, or not prohibiting it as far 
as they can, no matter of what dignity they may be, 
fall under excommunication, by the very fact, reserved 
to the Holy See.” From this Canon, you can easily 
understand the detestation which the Church has for 
this relic of barbarous and lawless days. 

Suicide is the killing of oneself. This is a horrible 
crime against the law of God and against oneself, 
and it is often the last refuge of a coward. We are 
not masters of our own life. Life is a trust or de¬ 
posit made by Almighty God, the Author of life, and 
it must be taken care of as long as God chooses. God 
has placed each one on earth as a sentinel is placed 
at his post, and it is high treason to desert that post. 
No one ever came into the world by his own choice, 




292 THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT 

and he may not leave it when he chooses. Of course, 

I do not include the insane; but many people falsely 
say that suicides are insane when in reality they are 
doing an act prompted by Satan. It is never lawful 
to commit suicide, either directly or indirectly, for 
it is doubly fatal to him who commits it. By taking 
away his temporal life, he brings on temporal and 
eternal death, for he stands unbidden before the throne 
of God with mortal sin on his soul. 

No sorrow, no trial, no trouble, no loss of temporal 
goods will ever make suicide lawful. People say they 
are weary of life; but if these same people trusted 
more in God, prayed better, led better lives, and had 
more of God-given hope, life would not be so weary. 
We must all bear trials, and God will help; we must 
all carry our cross; Christ carried His. 

It is lawful under certain circumstances to indi¬ 
rectly concur in one’s death. For instance, in war a 
soldier may offer himself to do an action for the 
good of his country, or to save many of his fellow 
soldiers from death; or a man may protest against 
the oppression and slavery of his country by a foreign! 
power, even, if, by the action or protest, death should 
follow. But death in such cases is not suicide, since 
it is neither desired nor intended. 

Not only is murder forbidden by this Command¬ 
ment, as well as all wounding, striking, and fighting, 
but it also forbids ill-treatment, violence, hatred, anger, 
envy,, revenge, and injurious words. All these I have 
mentioned are, as it were, the seeds of murder. 

It is bad enough to see fighting, quarreling, anger, 
and hatred among strangers and outsiders, but it is 
terrible when these sins are committed in the home. 
Ihe home ought to be the most peaceful place in the 
world. It ought to be the harbor, or haven of refuge 
for the father and mother, sisters and brothers. It 
ought to be modeled upon the holy home at Nazareth 


THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT 293 

of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. It ought to be the place 
of cleanliness, restfulness, and contentment. If it is 
disturbed by an angry, discontented father, or a nag¬ 
ging, fault-finding, quarrelsome mother; if there is 
striking, or fighting, or angry altercations, or even 
hatred between the parents themselves, or amongst the 
children, how can that home have God’s blessing? 
Instead of being the vestibule of heaven it is the ante¬ 
chamber of hell. Nearly all the evils of society have 
their roots in such a home. 

Lastly, the scandal-giver is a murderer; he is a 
murderer of his victim’s soul. Scandal is any action, 
or word, or omission calculated to bring about the 
spiritual ruin of one’s neighbor. 

The murderer of the body is bad enough, but the 
murderer of the soul is truly horrible. Scandal can 
be given in many ways: by command, by advice, by 
persuasion, by immodesty in dress, by ridiculing those 
who do good, or by striving to stop good works, by 
missing Mass, and keeping others from it. In a 
word, by doing, or omitting anything that would be 
liable to cause another to sin. It is doubly sinful and 
malicious if scandal takes place in the home; in the 
very place above all others from which it should be 
driven as a pestilence. 

Take away this Fifth Commandment “Thou shalt 
not kill,” and what security has a man for his life, 
or society for its preservation? Murder, nowadays, 
is very common. Human life, especially of the un¬ 
born child, is held to be very cheap. Men who com¬ 
mit murder escape, in the greater number, the death 
penalty for their crime. High-priced lawyers, inef¬ 
ficient juries, sentiment, money, and the miscarriage 
of justice are responsible for this. But God sees it 
all, and will surely punish when His time comes. 



THE SIXTH AND NINTH 
COMMANDMENTS 


“Thou shalt not commit adultery. Neither shalt 
thou desire thy neighbor’s wife.” (Exodus xx. 14, 
18.) 



synopsis 

The Sixth and Ninth Commandments protect honor.—The evils 
of impurity.—What is impurity?—Various kinds of impurity.— 
Mortal sins where full consent is given.—God prohibits the chief 
sin and those that lead to it.—Not only actions, but thoughts are 
forbidden.—The difficulty of preacher and confessor on this 
point.—Nothing is sinful without previous consent.—Adultry.—• 
Fornication.—Why against the law of nature.—Incest.—Sacri¬ 
lege.—Polution.—Onanism.—Birth control.—Restraint of hus¬ 
band and wife.—Sodomy and bestiality.—No knowing where im¬ 
purity will end.—Impurity is found in all classes of society.— 
What arouses impurity?—The remedies.—God alone gives purity. 
—The object of the Commandments.—The dignity of the Com¬ 
mandments.—The connection of these two. 


By the Fifth Commandment God protects the first 
of all natural gifts—namely, human life; in the Sixth 
and Ninth Commandments He safeguards our honor, 
which is the dearest thing after life itself. The Sixth 
Commandment prohibits all external luxury perpe¬ 
trated in action; the Ninth forbids all internal luxury 
—namely, impure thoughts and desires. 

This sin of impurity is almost as old as man; it is 
a sin of which people of every race, every language, and 
every degree of barbarity and civilization have been 
always more or less ashamed. It brought on the Del¬ 
uge; it burnt up Sodom and Gomorrha. It causes 
more evil, more ruin, more disease in the world, 
wrecks and damns more souls than all the other vices 

put together. It extinguishes faith in the soul, and 

294 















ON THE SIXTH AND NINTH COMMANDMENTS 295 


degrades man below the level of the brute. Now, 
luxury or impurity is an ungoverned appetite that de¬ 
lights in the gratification of sensual pleasure outside 
of marriage. 

There are various kinds of impurity, according as 
the objects are different. There are impure looks and 
touches; solitary actions, and those done with others; 
actions that are finished and those that are not; actions 
against the law of nature and those according to na¬ 
ture. Impurity may be directly desired or indirectly 
desired. In the first case it is when the impurity is 
directly intended; in the second, it is when something 
else is intended, from which without any wish carnal 
pleasures may arise. 

Everything which occurs with full consent, full lib¬ 
erty, and full knowledge, against the Sixth and Ninth 
Commandments is always a mortal sin. 

Although God mentions in these Commandments 
only the chief sin, just as in the other Command¬ 
ments, yet He forbids all sins of the same character 
which lead to impurity. 

Since, then, there is no smallness of matter, it is 
necessary to confess everything of which one has been 
guilty against these two Commandments. And not 
only actions, but even thoughts freely and deliberately 
consented to. For as the Sixth Commandment for¬ 
bids the criminal action, so the Ninth forbids the mo¬ 
tion of the will towards it, namely the very thought 
for it. 

It is very difficult for the preacher or the confessor 
to get some people to understand that not only impure 
actions, but also deliberate, impure thoughts are for¬ 
bidden. They falsely imagine that if one does not 
do the bad action there is no sin, never thinking that 
before God the thing is already done by consent 
of the will. In fact, no sin is ever committed without 
the consent of the will; it is this consent to a thing 


296 ON THE SIXTH AND NINTH COMMANDMENTS 

forbidden that first makes it a venial or mortal sin. 

Consequently, in confession, the kind of thought 
consented to must be confessed. Adultery, fornica¬ 
tion, touches, speech, or unnatural sins, can all be 
consented to in the mind alone; and the number of 
times must be confessed, for, as I said, the sin is 
already done before God. However, I want you to 
bear in mind that all impure thoughts are not sins; 
those that are rejected or cast away certainly cannot 
be consented to. Indeed, they may be the means of 
making one purer, for no matter how impure the 
thoughts may be, when they are cast aside we are 
victors, and God will reward us. Sometimes thoughts 
are not immediately driven away. Although the mind 
does not dwell on them with full deliberation, yet there 
is a degree of negligence. These are not mortal sins, 
but only venial. The best thing for any person to 
do is not to delay, not to be negligent, for these 
thoughts are most insidious and the devil is wily and 
cunning, so that if you do not take care, he will surely 
overcome you. 

There is, I think, no necessity to go into further 
detail on this delicate matter. But, now, it is nec¬ 
essary that I say something upon the actions them¬ 
selves as briefly and as modestly as I can. 

Adultery is intercourse with the husband or wife 
of another person, and is not only a sin against purity, 
but is a sin against justice. If both parties are 
married, then it is double adultery and double in¬ 
justice. Oi course, it is a terrible mortal sin. 
Fornication is intercourse between an unmarried man 
and an unmarried woman by mutual consent; it is 
always a mortal sin, and is indirectly forbidden by the 
law of nature. For if it were not, many persons 
would never marry, and children born in this way 
would be left without any education or protection, 
which would be a grave injury to society. The crime 


ON THE SIXTH AND NINTH COMMANDMENTS 297 

of incest is intercourse with blood relations, or with 
those who are related within the grades prohibited by 
the Church for marriage; this special circumstance 
must be told in confession. There is the additional 
crime of sacrilege in the violation by impurity of any 
person or place consecrated to God. This special cir¬ 
cumstance must also be confessed. 

The terribly prevalent sin of pollution needs to be 
spoken of. You all know, or at least have some idea 
of the ravages among men and women, boys and 
girls, of this solitary vice. It disturbs the whole 
nervous system of the one who commits it; it brings 
on sterility, nervousness, and finally insanity. It is 
never lawful under any consideration directly and 
freely to bring about pollution, for it is a crime against 
the Commandment and even against the law of na¬ 
ture. Pollution which follows from touches, looks, 
or very bad reading is a mortal sin, even if it is not 
intended, because the foundation for such an act is 
wilfully laid. 

True, this may occur in sleep, and is therefore de¬ 
void of sin; but if caused—especially if it be foreseen 
that it may happen—by reason of sins indulged in be¬ 
forehand, and not retracted, then it is also a mortal 
sin, by reason of the cause. 

There is another fearful sin ravaging the world, 
and it is the crime of onanism. This is practically 
pollution with one’s wife or with any woman. O 
God! to think of the number of crimes daily per¬ 
petrated by this devilish practise. 

It is never allowable to frustrate, or stop, or place 
an obstacle to the end of marriage, which is the pro¬ 
creation of children. It cannot be done by prevention, 
or stoppage, or instrument of any kind. All who do 
it, all who wilfully take part in it, by complaining of 
the number of children, the trouble of families, the 
pains or danger of child-birth, and so forth, are guilty 



298 ON THE SIXTH AND NINTH COMMANDMENTS 

of mortal sin for every act. All those who, as it 
were, protect those women to whom they' are not 
' married and with whom they sin are guilty of this 
crime, as well as the woman consenting to it.. 

This is not a law of the Church, but it is the law 
of God, who is over the Church. The Church has 
no power in the case. All those who instruct others 
to do this sin are guilty of mortal sin of scandal. 
Large families are laughed at these days; and there 
are societies for what is known as birth control; these 
look upon man merely as an animal, and as such they 
select what they call the best animals. 

It is perfectly legitimate for husband and wife by 
mutual consent to restrain themselves, provided no 
other sins will follow, but according to the advice of 
St. Paul, husbands and wives had better be very cau¬ 
tious and prayerful in this matter. I need not go into 
details concerning >the terrible sins of sodomy and 
bestiality, but it is necessary at least to mention them 
and to say that they too must be confessed. 

There is no knowing where the sexual instinct will 
wind up when once it is allowed to run. It may, and 
often does run into the worst channels, and the most 
frightful and unnatural excesses. 

This sin, in the different ways in which I have 
mentioned, is unfortunately to be found everywhere. 
It is as prevalent, if not more so, in the homes of the 
rich, of the would-be upper classes of society, of the 
so-called learned men and women, of the immacu¬ 
lately-clad man and my lady in silks and satins, as in 
the homes of the poor, of the under classes of society, 
of the ignorant and the poorly-clad man or woman. 
In fact, it is the so-called upper classes of society who 
set the pace and give the scandal. 

If things are bad enough, notwithstanding the 
Catholic Church and the confessional, what state must 




















ON THE SIXTH AND NINTH COMMANDMENTS 299 

they be in who have no restraint on their passions? 
They must be worse than beasts. 

The great sins of society to-day are avarice and 
lust. These are the causes of all the evils from which 
society is suffering; the passion of lust, gratification 
of the sexual instinct at all costs and in every way 
possible; and then the desire for power, territory, and 
money. 

What are the principal things that arouse the beast 
in man and inflame the passion of lust? Over-indulg¬ 
ence in food and drink, especially when men and 
women are congregated together in balls and parties. 
In fact, some of the balls and parties given nowadays 
are nothing but incentives to lust. Also, over-indul¬ 
gence in strong drink alone. Many a woman has been 
ruined by her first drink, and the same may be said of 
many men. 

Then, the mind can become saturated with lust by 
reading the accounts of current events as found in 
newspapers and in the stories to be found in maga¬ 
zines and novels of the day. Read, read, educate 
yourself, but that does not mean you must poison 
your mind, no more than you can eat or drink poison.' 

There is now a great cry of “art for art’s sake,” 
but the real art is for God’s sake. Beware of pic¬ 
tures, statues, books, songs, whose whole reason for 
existence is nothing but a plea for lust. That kind 
of art, instead of raising a man to God, will sink him 
into hell with the devil; there is where “art for art’s 
sake” is headed. 

Another incentive to lust is dangerous company. 
When kissing or embracing are indulged in, as they 
sometimes are by those who are keeping company, 
and these actions are done for the impure delight at¬ 
taching to them, they are always mortal sins, and 
that, even if nothing worse occurs. 



300 ON THE SIXTH AND NINTH COMMANDMENTS 

What can I say of the styles of women’s dress to¬ 
day? Now women and girls who would be shocked 
at the slightest doubt of their purity dress in a 
fashion that even the common woman of the street 
would not use a short time ago. Indeed, it is said that 
the common woman these days dresses more modestly, 
in a great number of cases, than those who hold their 
heads high. 

If our women, especially of the better class, would 
take heed of this crying abuse of their modesty, things 
would shortly better themselves, and they themselves 
would be more appreciated by good men, and would 
cease to appear as bidding for the impure love or 
impure glance of every man they meet. 

Curiosity is the hunger to see everything, and know 
everything, no matter how bad it is. It has ruined 
more souls than any one is aware of. Seeing how far 
you can go, generally will bring you to the bottom of 
the precipice. 

Again, impure, lascivious dancing is the cause of 
numberless sins of impurity, and a great deal of the 
dancing of the day will cause the dancers to fall 
dizzily over the brink of destruction, unless they stop 
in time. 

Lastly, immoral plays, in which impurity of all 
kinds, and unfaithfulness to the marriage vows are 
acted, under different guises and in seductive ways. 
Also the motion picture, when the eye drinks in poison 
after poison until the soul is stupefied and benumbed. 
The motion picture can be the greatest educator and 
uplifter of society, a blessing from God, or it can be 
made, by the perversity of man, the greatest destroyer 
of society and morals, and a curse from hell. 

What are the remedies against this sin, which is 
so awful in its havoc and destructive of so many souls? 
First, remember that it blots out the image of God in 
the soul, that it defiles our very members, especially of 















ON THE SIXTH AND NINTH COMMANDMENTS 3OI 

those who have received the Body and Blood of Jesus 
Christ in holy Communion, and that it degrades us 
into brutes. Think, again, that it makes mockery of 
our Lord’s scourging and of His crucifixion, and that 
it especially drives out God the Holy Ghost from the 
soul, leaving the devil in His place, laughing, exult¬ 
ing, and triumphant. Ponder over the punishment 
here, and especially hereafter, of this frightful sin. 

Again, let us employ watchfulness over our eyes, our 
imagination, and our mind to repel the first attack. 
Lastly, let us make use of prayer, humble, sincere, and 
trustful, and we surely will not be tempted above our 
strength. If we pray well, and mean what we say, 
God will surely give us the grace to overcome the at¬ 
tack. The more we conquer, the weaker the enemy 
becomes. One can never overcome impurity by yield¬ 
ing to its claims or cries. The pure man is the man 
who prays and represses his passions; the impure man 
is without prayer, and is the slave of his passions. 
Nobody can be pure unless the Lord helps him, and 
He will not help unless He is asked. 

Beg of God to give you this help; beg of Him when 
you are tempted, and do it every day of your lives. 
If you do this you will merit what He has promised in 
one of the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the clean of heart, 
for they shall see God.” 1 


1 Matt. v. 8. 


THE SEVENTH AND TENTH COMMAND¬ 
MENTS 


“Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet thy 
neighbor’s house, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, 
nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is his.” 
(Exodus xx. 15, 17.) 


SYNOPSIS 

God owns all things.—The right of property, is divine.—Prop¬ 
erty must be respectd in justice.—Beware of socialism.-—Defi¬ 
nition of stealing.—Keeping another’s property.—Harmful things 
can be taken or kept.—Theft, robbery, cheating.—Buyers and re¬ 
ceivers of stolen goods.—Slackers at work.—Robbery.—Just 
wages.—National, state, and civic robbery.—False contracts.—• 
Bribery.—Commercial robbery.—War and injustice.—Lost articles. 

—Stealing is opposed to all laws.—Degrees of stealing.—What is 
a mortal sin of stealing?—Sacrilege.—Those who concur.—Res¬ 
titution.—All equally bound.—The possessor first.—The Tenth 
Commandment.—What is the sin against the Tenth?—The force 
on society of the two Commandments. 

The object of these two Commandments is the 
same, namely, to direct us in the duties we owe our 
neighbor as regards his temporal possessions. By 
these two Commandments God shows how much more 
exalted are His laws above those of human legislators, 
for He forbids not only the action itself, but also the 
very desire of doing it. This is true of all the other 
Commandments. Man sees only the deed, but God 
looks into the heart. It is, then, very easy to see the 
connection between these two Commandments. All 
property, no matter of what kind, rightfully acquired 
or owned, is protected by Almighty God. He is really 
the only absolute owner. But He “has given the earth 
to the sons of men,” and guards them in this gift by J 

the words, “Thou shalt not steal.” 

302 




THE SEVENTH AND TENTH COMMANDMENTS 303 

1 

The right of ownership is divine. As no man has 
of himself a right to command another, so no man, nor 
any laws can of themselves give to another any right 
or any ownership in property. Possession for even 
the longest time does not give ownership, for there 
may be an owner before you. So as the right of one 
man to demand obedience from another can come only 
from God, so also does the right of ownership. The 
right of property is therefore divine. If it is divine, 
as we have seen, then it must be respected. Justice 
therefore forbids any one to injure his neighbor in his 
property; and if any injury is done in this matter it 
must be repaired by the person who has done the harm. 

I do not intend to speak now about the various 
forms of modern anti-Catholic socialism, for that 
would take me too far afield, but I must warn you that 
any system that breaks away from the Catholic 
doctrine and from the laws of God will bring nothing 
but disaster to the individual and society in general. 

To steal means not only to take but also to keep any¬ 
thing belonging, to another against his will. In other 
words, it is the unjust taking or keeping of the goods 
of another against his will, when he rightly wishes not 
to be deprived of them. Therefore, to take or keep 
what belongs to another is unjust, and the one who does 
this is guilty of sin, mortal or venial, according to the 
value of the thing taken, which must be returned to the 
owner. Sometimes a thing may come into a man’s 
hands without his knowing that it is the property of 
another; but when he finds that out, he is bound by the 
law of God to return it to the rightful owner, as other¬ 
wise he would be keeping another’s property, and 
would, therefore, be guilty of theft. 

It is not sinful to take something from another 
when it is surely known that the thing will be used by 
that other person for the destruction or harm of his 
soul or body; as firearms, poison, money that will be 




304 THE seventh and tenth commandments 

wasted, bad books, and so forth. Of course, this has 
to be done with prudence and discretion. 

All stealing can be reduced to three heads. First, 
theft, which is taking or keeping things secretly; 
second, robbery , which is the taking or the keeping of 
things by violence; third, deception, and then it is called 
cheating or fraud. Those who buy stolen goods, and 
those who receive them, are guilty of theft. Hus¬ 
bands and wives are guilty of the sin of theft if they 
squander the property of each other. Again, all those 
who, being paid for their work, idle away their time 
at the expense of their employer; and again, those who 
neglect the duties of a public office while receiving a 
salary for the discharge of it, are thieves. 

Robbery is another form of stealing, but it differs 
from theft, because it is open and involves violence. 
Highway robbery is effected by violence; refusing to 
pay just wages, in whole or in part, is robbery. 

What are we to say of the robbery of money or 
valuables in the federal, the state, and the city 
governments? Think of the robbery going on, as 
well as of the utterly careless and criminal waste of 
millions and millions of the people’s money! False 
contracts entered into; exorbitant bidding for con¬ 
tracts; and then dividing the profits among themselves; 
work badly done, or maybe not done at all; wasting, 
squandering, robbing, while the people must pay for it 
all. It would seem sometimes as if men were vieing 
with one another to see who could rob the most. 

Then there is the prevalent crime of bribery; it has 
invaded the judge’s seat, as well as the jury-box; it 
has corrupted witnesses and perjured them, sometimes 
even to the death of innocent men; truly, bribery in 
nation, state, and city is very prevalent.. 

Robbery is to be found in chambers of commerce, 
and in stocks and bonds; yes, awful, frightful, and 
terrible robbery. The fearful robbery and destruc- 
















THE SEVENTH AND TENTH COMMANDMENTS 3O5 

tion in war; and the robbery of one country by another. 
Surely these sins cry to heaven for vengeance, and the 
perpetrators of these crimes will find themselves be¬ 
reft of all their ill-gotten gains in hell, if they do not 
repent and restore them in time. 

Lastly, there is the sin of cheating or defrauding. 
This consists of using false weights and measures, also, 
in charging over and above the amount rightly due for 
anything, knowingly selling damaged or adulterated 
goods; in fine, making use of any methods of fraud. 

I may also say here that those who find lost property 
or money are bound to return it to the owner. If the 
owner, after fairly diligent search cannot be found, 
then, according to the opinion of theologians, the 
property or money belongs to the one who found it. 
If the owner later on turns up, he can claim his right, 
but he must pay the expenses, if any, for the care of the 
property and the search for its owner. 

Stealing is opposed to natural, divine, and human 
laws. And yet some people have no conscience in this 
matter. A man can go to hell for stealing, just as for 
murder or adultery. Some people balk at telling 
a lie, but cheat in the rent; others will not utter a pro¬ 
fane word but will cheat buyers, or buyers will cheat 
the sellers; some men are paragons of perfection in 
their home life, but play havoc with their, consciences 
in business; some men will build churches and hospitals, 
and endow universities, but will defraud the poor, cut 
down wages, treat their workers as" slaves and keep 
themselves out of jail through the devices of high- 
priced lawyers. A great many of this kind of people 
, are, no doubt, long since in hell. 

Avarice is the root of all evil, and stealing is one 
kind of avarice. It is the source of a great many 
hatreds, enmities, riots, and murders. Men have 
wrecked their own lives, those of their families, and 
the lives of others through stealing and avarice. 




306 the seventh and tenth commandments 

Of course, stealing is not always a mortal sin; it ad¬ 
mits of degrees. But as in lying, or in any other bad 
habit, which generally commences with smaller faults 
and gradually ends in greater, so the colossal robber, 
or the confirmed thief, or the professional cheat, be¬ 
gan with smaller faults. 

It is very difficult for theologians to say just when 
stealing becomes a mortal sin. The question is to be 
looked at both absolutely and relatively. The matter 
is absolutely grave when a thing cannot be taken with¬ 
out grave consequences to the owners. But if the 
same proportion were to be always observed, one could 
avoid a mortal sin of stealing from the very rich. 
But this cannot be done. The gravity of the sin, then, 
must be measured from the greater or less privation, 
the grief of the owner, or his reluctance to have the 
thing taken from him. This reluctance is commonly 
and reasonably held to exist amongst the general run 
of men, but not amongst those who are drawn by a 
greater or lesser love of money. 

Here is where the difficulty of theologians lies. 
Money or its value is a relative thing. Money 
especially fluctuates in value in different places and 
different countries, so that the thing is to be valued for 
its worth differently in different places—its power of 
buying or exchange, the price of materials and labor, 
and in general J the moral estimation of men. You 
cannot lay down a hard-and-fast rule, nor make com¬ 
parisons between richer and richest. One thing is 
sure, that those who try to walk on the edge of the 
precipice will end by falling over. That is certain in 
this, as in all the other Commandments. Keep away, 
then, from the edge: do not steal at all. 

Persons who take objects of value can commit 
mortal sins, not exactly by reason of the intrinsic value 
of the thing itself, but by reason of something attach¬ 
ing to the object in the mind of the owner. 



THE SEVENTH AND TENTH COMMANDMENTS 3 O? 

It makes stealing a grave sin when even small 
amounts are taken from the very poor, or from work¬ 
men, or mechanics, or the ordinary well-to-do. Very 
small sums may become in time a large amount. It 
is sacrilege to steal a sacred thing. 

All those who effectually concur in stealing are 
equally guilty. This embraces those who command, 
who advise, who consent; those who protect or shelter, 
so that stealing can go on; those who know of and do 
not stop stealing; those who share in the plunder; those 
who by their office should protect the public and fail 
to do so. So you can see how far-reaching is this law 
of God. 

All those whom I have just now mentioned are 
equally bound to restore what they stole or helped to 
steal. Reparation must be made. First, the person 
who stole, or who has the property in his possession; if 
that is not done, then all those who helped to steal are 
bound to restitution. As it would take too long to go 
into minute details in this instruction, let me say that 
it would be advisable to consult the confessor in these 
difficult and complex cases. 

Hitherto I have been speaking only on the Seventh 
Commandment, namely, on the act itself of stealing. 

The Tenth Commandment forbids even the desire to 
steal. Indeed, the outward act proceeds from the 
inner act of the mind in all sin. If the mind is 
guarded in this, as in the other Commandments, there 
need be no fear of sin of any kind. The sin consists 
in wishing to steal. 

What effect would merely human laws have on 
society if we did not have this particular law of the 
rights of property? Even as it is, with the loss of 
all things in hell staring them in the face, men will 
steal; colossal robbers, of countries, of treasuries, of 
banks, of the poor. And again, the petty stealing 
going on everywhere. What would it be were there 


308 the seventh and tenth commandments 

no law saying: “Thou shalt not steal?” The world 
would be like a jungle of wild animals, or a den of 
thieves. It would be rapine, plunder, riot, and in¬ 
justice. Human legislation cannot cope with the evil; 
it remains for the law of God. 

“Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet thy 
neighbor’s goods” resounds throughout the world and 
binds all men at all times. 






















THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT 


“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy 
neighbor.” (Exodus xx. 16.) 

SYNOPSIS 

Man alone has speech.—The reason.—Speech is a great gift.— 
The reason of the Commandment.—Negative and positive.—Per¬ 
jury.—What is lying?—Lying is always sinful.—It can be mortal 
or venial.—Purely mental restriction.—Economy of truth.—Con¬ 
fession.—Detraction, its definition.—Contumely.—Calumny.—Many 
ways of detraction.—Restitution of good name.—The willing and 
unwilling listener.—Tale-bearing.—Definition of rash judgment. 
—Thoughts are not sins.—Facts are stubborn.—Revelation of 
secrets.—Sacramental confession.—Exhortation to keep the law. 

No other being on earth has the gift of speech but 
man, and it is one of the greatest gifts of a beneficent 
and loving Creator. The reason why man alone has 
speech is because he is the only one of all the animals 
endowed with the power of reason. The brute has no 
speech, nor does he need it, because he has nothing to 
convey; for man speech is necessary to convey his 
thoughts, for man is defined as a reasoning animal. 

But as the greatest gifts of God to man can be mis¬ 
used by perversity, so can the power of speech. To 
remedy this, and to forestall it, we have the Command¬ 
ment of which I now speak. 

This Commandment prohibits primarily and princi¬ 
pally the giving of false witness against one’s neighbor; 
secondarily, and indirectly, it forbids the wounding or 
hurting of our neighbor’s honor and good name. 

What is bearing 'false witness against one’s 
neighbor? It is a statement or deposition against him 
made either in court or outside of court, and it is 

309 








3io 


THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT 


generally confirmed by oath. Under this heading a 
false witness is a perjurer. As we have already 
spoken of this sin of perjury in the instruction on the 
Second Commandment, there is no need to repeat it 
now. 

But many other things are prohibited by the Eighth 
Commandment, and the first of these is lying. What 
is a lie? The answer, in the words of St. Augustine, 
is “To say knowingly anything different from what 
we think.” Or it may be defined as speech that is con¬ 
trary to thoughts. Lying is one of the most hateful 
of vices, and disgraces the person guilty of it. Lying 
can be by word, gesture, action, writing. Lying is 
always sinful, but it can be either venially or mortally 
so. Lies that are called jocose—that is, told for 
amusement, or those that are officious, that is, told for 
the good of one’s neighbor, or to prevent some evil 
happening to him, are venial sins. 

But there is also the malicious lie; if this lie is 
gravely hurtful then a mortal sin is committed. It is 
never allowable to use a purely mental restriction, by 
means of which the mind or meaning of the speaker 
cannot be understood. Now, lying is merely a begin¬ 
ning, an apprenticeship for all kinds of crimes; an 
habitual liar will not balk at perjury, if it suits his 
purpose. It is an abomination to God, who is Truth 
itself, and the liar can never be trusted by men. 

Do not confound lies with certain methods of speech, 
as metaphors, parables, and so forth, which can be 
easily understood by hearers. There is an economy 
of truth which must be safeguarded; people should 
riot tell everything they know to every chance ques¬ 
tioner or busy-body. If things were otherwise, the 
world would be in an uproar and turmoil. Magis¬ 
trates, judges, lawyers, doctors, nurses, are bound by 
reason of their office to be silent, or even to deny what 
they know. Of course, sacramental confession is com- 






THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT 3II 

pletely guarded; even under oath it cannot be re¬ 
vealed. 

There is another detestable thing forbidden by this 
Commandment, and that is detraction. What is de¬ 
traction? It is the unjust violation of the good name 
of an absent neighbor, or the blackening or lessen¬ 
ing of the good opinion which others have of his life 
and morals. It is called contumely, if the person de¬ 
tracted is present. It is called calumny, if the person 
detracted is innocent. This is one of the most prev¬ 
alent vices of men, and draws down upon its perpe¬ 
trators the severest judgments of God. It can be com¬ 
mitted in many ways—by revealing, without necessity, 
the neighbor’s faults, or exposing his unknown de¬ 
fects; by misinterpreting his good actions; by lessen¬ 
ing his good qualities; by showing signs of impatience 
when he is praised, or saying that he does not deserve 
such praise; by keeping silence or reserve, or praising 
him so weakly that others have their suspicions aroused. 
It is also a sin when a man has recovered his good 
name and the esteem of his fellow-men, to open up the 
old trouble, to reopen the old wound. Just as in steal¬ 
ing, so in detraction there may be degrees of guilt, ac¬ 
cording as the damage done is more or less serious. 
And just as the thief must make restitution, so the de¬ 
tractor is bound to restore the good name and fame of 
the person he detracted. 

Those who listen cheerfully to the detractor are just 
as guilty as he; but those who either by going away, 
or by appearing annoyed or sad, or in one of the many 
ways by which they can exhibit their displeasure, show 
that they are not in favor of such talk, are guilty of 
no sin at all. What the detractor says of his neighbor 
may be true, but he has no right to tell it. It is 
very much worse when what is told is a lie. The 
calumniator is worse than a robber; he is utterly des¬ 
pised by God and man. No one knows what danger he 



312 THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT 

/ 

is in when such a person is around; he is worse than 
a pestilence, and inspires fear and horror. If the de¬ 
tractor is bound to restitution of his victim’s good 
name, what is the obligation of the calumniator! 
Every one has a right to his good name, and God 
Himself respects it by concealing our many faults. 

What I have said in reference to the restoration of 
the good name of the person detracted equally applies 
to any losses in money or goods brought about by the 
detractor or calumniator, for these losses are often, 
very often, suffered through the vile tongues of others. 

Then there is the tale-bearer. This is one who 
runs around from one person or one family to another, 
telling everything he knows. Even if there is no def¬ 
amation or calumny, yet how much trouble can the 
miserable tale-bearer bring about! He diminishes 
affection in families, confidence among friends, and the 
right order between superiors and inferiors. Look 
out 'for the tale-bearer; listen to nothing that he says, 
nor believe him, and if you can, punish him or have 
him punished, for he is a pest. 

Rash judgment is a firm assent formed from slight 
indication of some sin or some defect of the neighbor. 
This can be mortal or venial sin. To be mortal, it must 
be firm, and beyond all doubt; it must be deliberate; it 
must be a grave matter concerning a certain deter¬ 
minate person; and it must be based on slight reasons. 
Now, suspicions or rash doubts are not mortal sins,- 
for the simple reason that a full judgment is not given. 
Still, in certain cases as suspicion of very grave crimes, 
mortal sin is liable to be committed by harboring them 
without reason. However, that does not mean that 
any one is to be imprudent—not all men are thieves, 
but some are; not all men are liars, but some are; and 
so, the prudent man is on his guard, and takes care of 
his family, his fame, and his fortune. 



THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT 313 

You are not to think that every evil thought which 
comes to your mind about your neigbor is a sin. No 
more is it a sin than a thought of impurity, if you 
strive to banish it. However, there are facts, and 
facts are stubborn things. If, for" instance, you see 
your neighbor drunk, you cannot think he is sober, 
for he is not. You cannot judge beyond the fact, 
and are forbidden to spread it. 

It is not permitted to violate a secret. Secrets may 
be of three kinds: natural, promised, and communi¬ 
cated. A natural secret, as the very word tells us, is 
one which of its very nature imposes silence; as, for 
instance, if you know anything which you cannot 
manifest without the grave injury of your neighbor’s 
good name, or the loss of his goods or property. A 
promised secret is one by which a person binds himself 
not to reveal something he has heard, or has learned 
b^ chance. A communicated secret is one which is re¬ 
vealed to another, under a promise that the other will 
not reveal it. If any of these three secrets concerns 
matters of great moment, or of grave importance to the 
possessor, then the one who reveals is guilty of a 
mortal sin, and if any other injury is done, reparation 
must be made. There may be certain extraordinary 
cases, when these secrets do not bind, but then the best 
thing in such cases would be to consult the parish 
priest or the confessor. One secret can never be re¬ 
vealed under any circumstance—that is, sacramental 
confession. This binds the confessor and all those 
who by accident hear the confession. It is forbidden 
by the law of nature and by the law of nations to open 
letters. If this should ever be allowed, it would work 
great damage to society and individuals. 

And now we have come to the end of our explana¬ 
tions of that wonderful code of God’s love for man— 
the Ten Commandments. Take away the Ten Com- 




314 THE eighth commandment 

mandments and where would man be? No law, no 
society, no state, no church, no family, no God. Man 
would descend to the level of the brute. 

Let us thank our loving God for protecting us by 
His laws, let us firmly resolve that we will keep these 
laws, and let us beg of Him daily the great grace to 
do so, so that, when death approaches we may enter 
upon a truer life than this, with the words of our 
Saviour welcoming us: “Well done, thou good and 
faithful servant! Enter into the joy of thy Lord.” 1 
Amen. 

1 Matt. xxv. 21. 


THE END 


3 4 7 7 7 



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